The Witches Watcher
by Kiara-Zzyopen
Summary: BEING REVISED! COMPLETE! BtVS HP crossover. After the battle with The First, Dawn becomes a watcher and moves to Hogwarts with her slayers to help Harry prepare for the fight of his life. !BEING REVISED!
1. Welcome to Hogwarts

My first Story Ever- Ahhh!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing

TIMELINE: After S7 Buffy and OofP HP. Dawn and HP gang are all 16 /17 depending on birthdays & me screwing with the timeline! After S7, Dawn gets magic as a side effect of Willow's spell unlocking the potential in everyone. As there are so few watchers left, Giles asked Dawn to help out by becoming watcher to a group of slayers who just happen to also be witches. And that is were the story begins…

**A/N as of 17th November 2005: I'll be going over the chapters for this fic hopefully at the rate of five a week and making the corrections I notice and maybe changing some bits slightly. I am by no means perfect, so in all likelihood there will still be some mistakes, but I'll try to get 'em all!  
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**CHAPTER 1- Welcome to Hogwarts!  
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"Let me get this straight," Dawn Summers said to the ageing man sitting opposite her. "You want me to come to your school, where I will learn how to do magic using a wand, and I can bring my slayers with me?" The man nodded, his eyes twinkling

"I am so in!" Dawn exclaimed. She heard four similar exclamations coming from around her, from her slayers.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, my dear...but before you accept I ask one thing of you..."

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As Dawn looked at the new world she would be living in for the next eight months, one word pretty much summed up what she was thinking: Wow.

Since the battle with the first, Buffy had finally realised that she could take care of herself. So when Giles had approached her about becoming a watcher for a few of the hundreds of potent...wait, no they were proper slayers now, that kept on popping out of the woodwork, it had hardly taken any persuasion to get her big sister to allow her to do it- especially with her newly discovered abilities.

That was another thing- when Willow unlocked the potentials potential, it seemed she hadn't stopped there. Dawn's 'potential' had too arisen; thanks to the key, she was one kick ass witch!

The best that it could be explained was that Dawn was still the key and that allowed her to do magic sort of like Wicca, but it was much easier for her to grasp. It felt natural to her, like she'd been doing it for years. And under Willow and Giles' training, she was coming along quickly.

Anyway, so Dawn bypassed the watcher training, - "Dawn, you deciphered an ancient Samarian spell thingy; what's more watchery than that? Do you honestly think you need to go to this training thing?" had been Buffy's reaction to the training- and been given a new slayer to guide. Not an ordinary slayer though. Giles had thought that with her newfound 'ability' she would be the watcher best suited to the witch slayers.

So Dawn was to watcher-ize all of the slayers who were also witches. There weren't that many of them, Giles estimated seven, because something about the witchyness made it unlikely for them to have the potential slayer in them. Seven. It seemed like two slayers was a lot for one watcher after Buffy died the first time, but due to the watchers council going kaboom (literally) the remaining six watchers, and that included Giles and the newly reinstated Wesley, had nearly twenty slayers each. So Dawn was getting off lightly really.

For the next month Dawn focused on learning about the wizarding world; learning spells, in particular the one that allowed her to locate witch- slayers, and training Felicity. Felicity, or Flick, was her slayer and by training Flick, who had never had a watcher before, Dawn was training herself as well. She was a good fighter for a human, maybe better than she should be, but she couldn't win against a slayer without a _lot_ of help from magic.

Part of being a watcher meant that Dawn had to go and collect any of her slayers that did not know what they were and bring them back to the new Slayer Academy in LA, formally the Hyperion Hotel. A location spell found, aside from Flick, one other slayer in America, one in Germany, one in France and two in England. Six in total.

First stop, Salem School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The biggest problem with the location spell was that with all the magic around the schools it couldn't pick up on the slayer specifically. But because Salem was a relatively small school, Jaden Mormon was discovered with little difficulty.

Then Dawn, Felicity and Jaden were off to Germany and to Durmstrang Wizarding School. Here, with more difficulty, Skylar Von Martin was found to be the slayer.

Next the four went to France and to Beauxbatons Witching Academy. Finding the slayer here proved to be more difficult still, but eventually Robinette Chardon was proved to be the slayer.

Finally Dawn and her new slayers went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in England, where the debatably crazy but undoubtedly kind headmaster allowed them all to stay so that the young witches could finish their education, something which they had all been worrying about, and so Dawn could learn more about her power.

After a conversation on a charmed phone with Buffy, Giles and the rest of the Scooby's, it was decided. Dawn and the four slayers were to stay at Hogwarts, at least until they found out who the slayers were when the school returned in two months time when their summer vacation had finished. With that all settled, and when they had agreed to Dumbledore's one request, the five teens did what they do best...shopping!

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They had gone to Diagon Alley to purchase school supplies. 'And maybe go to the muggle world for some extra shopping afterwards; after all,' Dawn pondered silently 'Giles did say we were to use the watchers council's account for any "slaying essentials"...wait a second, did I just say muggle world? I've been hanging around Skye and Jade too much!'

"Dawn! DAWN!" someone calling her name snapped Dawn out of her thoughts.

"What? What are you...whoa! What is this place" Her eyes opened wide as she looked up at the massive building in front of her. It was nothing like she'd ever seen before.

Flick giggled at her expression "Come on, dreamy. This is Gringrott's- we'll change your money into something that's actually useful around here- wizards don't take visa!"

"Where are Skye and Jade?" Dawn questioned as they went into the huge marble building

"Gone off somewhere together- we're meeting at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch in a couple of hours." Replied Robinette in her accented voice. Skylar and Jaden had immediately hit it off when they were introduced and were practically inseparable.

"Figures. OHMIGOD!"

"Did we forget to mention that this place is run by goblins?" Flick said with a smirk, telling her that they purposely hadn't told her.

"Err Yeah! Are they evil?"

"Only if you take more than you can afford and can't pay them back. Then you have to watch out."

"I heard that they lock you in a vault to starve." Robin put in, looking warily at the goblins.

"Starve?" Dawn squeaked

"No" Flick assured her, "you'll only get locked in a vault if you try to steal from the bank. Erm, hi. Vault 561 please" she told the goblin who cam to serve them.

"You could've warned me about that ride! I thought I was going to be sick" a slightly green looking Dawn moaned five minutes later.

"But ya weren't were you? See, no harm, no foul!"

Dawn mumbled something uncomplimentary about "little green men with fast carts" and "my so called friends never tell me anything..." before asking where they would be heading next. It was Robinette who answered her.

"We need to go to Flourish and Blotts for books; Madame Maulkins for our robes and Olivianders for your wand."

"OK. Books first- is that OK with you two?" Dawn asked the slayers before heading off for the bookstore.

As it was nearing the end of Hogwarts' summer holidays, Flourish and Blotts was full of students, several seeing people they knew.

"Lavender? Lavender! I love your hair!"

"Tom how was France?"

"George! Oh sorry Fred! How was your summer?"

"Hermione! So good to see you dear! Your parents are with you, yes? I must go and have a chat"

"Harry. Harry Potter! Over Here!"

At that name Dawn, Flick and Robinette all looked at the boy being called and then at each other.

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_FLASHBACK_

"Welcome to Hogwarts, my dear...but before you accept I ask one thing of you.

"It is not unknown to me that you are very capable yourself, Miss Summers. And one slayer can defeat demons that I hope that I never meet and you are the watcher of six. Now I come to my request.

"No doubt you have heard of Mr Harry Potter who attends school here. He seems to have a knack for getting into situations that are some what life-threatening, well what I ask of you Miss Summers, is for you and your slayers to help in our fight in whichever way you are able and to help us to keep Harry safe.

"It is no secret that he is a target of Lord Voldemort who, as I am sure you know, has risen to power again. I fear that Hogwarts may not be enough to protect him and his friends, in particular Ronald Weasley, his younger sister Ginny and Hermione Granger, so I ask you to do your best to keep them and Harry safe if I cannot."

Dawn looked at Professor Dumbledore and saw how much he cared for his students, particularly Harry. Flick had told her about Voldemort and how if he defeated Harry Potter and the rest of the wizarding world then he could rule the muggle world as well. Their world; sooner or later they would have to get involved.

He had shown Dawn a copy of the prophecy that was in a one- of- a- kind, magically updated book with all the wizarding prophecies that he had retrieved from the watchers council before it was blown up.

Felicity read the book over Dawn's shoulder. "Professor, if this prophecy is true, then only Harry can kill Voldemort. What I mean is...well I just wondered..."

"How you can help him if only Harry can kill Voldemort?" at Flick's nod he continued "I'm afraid it is true, my dear."

Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle and he suddenly looked much older. But as he looked up, Dawn saw some of the twinkle return and... was that hope?

"I heard of your sister's past with prophesies- how they do not tell the whole story." Dumbledore continued "Something occurred to me...Harry must strike the killing blow, but there is nothing saying that he can't have as much help as he needs, the prophecy would still be fulfilled if Lord Voldemort was being held down by several slayers while Harry delivered the curse that will end Voldemort's reign over our community.

"I am not saying it will be easy, Miss Summers...I am not saying you and your slayers will live through this war. All I can do is ask for your help and promise that I will do everything in my power to keep you all safe."

Dawn looked to her slayers who were discussing the offer between themselves; she needed their consent before she engaged them in war.

"Well...what do you guys think?" Dawn asked quietly, seeing that they had come to a decision.

Felicity stood and walked over to her and then glanced back at the rest of the slayers who nodded their heads in encouragement. Their mind was made up.

"We don't know." She said honestly to Dawn "This war, well it involves us, our families we should say yes without a moments thought. But it's not that easy.

"Ever since I was born I've known about the havoc he-who-must-not-be-named caused while he had power, the millions of innocent people he murdered, wizards and witches alike. It's not like with The First. Voldemort can kill us all from across the battle field- no physical contact necessary and we don't have the magical skills to stop him.

"But we know that if he beats Harry then he'll kill us all and thousands of others anyway. Who knows, having a few slayers on the side of good might make all the difference in a battle? We'll end up fighting eventually, we're happy to be here from the beginning. But at the end of the day, you're the watcher. If it were up to us, we'd probably stay, but it's your decision."

Dawn nodded. They were happy to stay; her gut was telling her to stay. But would it be fair to ask the slayers to fight when they could easily end up dead? Could she do that? But she had to make a decision.

"Professor, I think that we will stay and help." Dawn said slightly uncertain. She looked back at her slayers. They looked scared and worried, but resolved. 'I have a new respect for Giles' she thought as she turned back to Dumbledore. "We'll stay." She said in a firm voice. "We'll fight."

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Please review!


	2. The Hardest Thing in this World

**A.N.** In case you didn't guess, I'm English and so is my spelling!

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing

**TIMELINE:** After S7 Buffy and OofP HP. Dawn and HP gang are all 16 /17 depending on birthdays & me screwing with the timeline! After S7 Dawn get magic because of Willows spell unlocking potentials & is appointed Watcher to all the witch slayers (there are 6). Because of the Watchers council being blown up each watcher has lots of slayers to train.

Slayers get called when they are 13. Robinette and Jaden are 14, Ginny and Skylar are 15, Dawn, Flick, Harry, Ron and Hermione are 17

Thanks to the reviewers: Chrios- my first review, Mandi and ManicPlea

**CHAPTER 2- The Hardest Thing In This World Is To Live In It**

Dawn and two of her slayers were standing in Flourish and Blotts holding their schoolbooks for the next year.

"Harry. Harry Potter! Over Here!" someone was calling.

At that name Dawn, Flick and Robinette all looked at the boy being called and then at each other.

'So this is the guy we're supposed to protect...he's kinda cute! Bad Dawn!' she scolded herself. She was supposed to protect the guy, not hit on him. Strictly business, right?

"So that's him, huh?" Dawn asked the slayers, although she already knew the answer.

"Oui" Robinette confirmed it, as did Flicks nodding head.

"Do you think we should introduce ourselves" Dawn asked

"What like 'Hi my names Felicity, I'm a slayer and I'll be protecting you next term.' Yeah that'll work!" Faith said with a snort.

"Well not exactly like that, remember we're meant to have secret identities? Just say 'Hi' and stuff. It couldn't hurt to start to get to know who we're dealing with"

"Ok- but you do the talking"

As they walked over they noticed a girl with long bushy hair- 'must be Hermione' and a crowd of red heads- 'the Weasley's. Everyone together, Dumbledore was right, they are inseparable!'

"Err, Hi. Harry Potter, right? I'm Dawn and this is Robinette and Felicity. You must be Hermione? And Ron? And Ginny, right?"

At his name, Harry looked up. 'Wow.' He was looking at a girl who looked about the same age as him with eyes as green as his own. She had long chestnut coloured hair with blond streaks and she was getting strange looks from the other shoppers. And Harry could see why.

The girl, Dawn she said her name was, was wearing tight jeans and a red shirt that fit tightly around her body. Although her choice of clothing made her look, quite frankly, 'hot' in Harry's eyes, it didn't really fit in at Diagon Alley where most people were wearing long flowing robes.

There where two other girls with her. The one introduced as Robinette had almost black wavy hair and the biggest, bluest eyes that Harry had ever seen. She was younger than the other two- 'Ginny's age?' Harry wondered - and wore simple black robes, much like the school uniforms.

The last member of the group, Felicity, had reddish hair, but it was nowhere near as red as any of the Weasly's. She had a huge smile on her glossed lips and waved at the group as Dawn spoke. She also wore tight fitting jeans and a navy blue tank top, again making her stand out in the Wizarding street.

"Bloody hell, always the celebrity!" said Ron, while Harry muttered something under his breath about 'that bloody Skeeter woman'.

"We're starting Hogwarts after the summer and Dumbledore told us about you all." Flick explained, still smiling.

"You look a little old to be first years" said Ginny sceptically

"We're part of the exchange program." Dawn lied "I'm going into the sixth year, so is Flick, and Robin's going into the fourth year. Our friends Skylar and Jaden are about somewhere, they're going into the fourth and fifth year."

"Are you all American?" Ron asked

"No only Dawn, Jaden and me" said Flick "Skylar's German"

"And I am Français"

Finally Ginny asked the question that she had wanted to know the answer to since the strangers had first spoken to them "How did you know my name?"

Dawn looked surprised "Dumbledore told us. Shouldn't he have?"

"No, it's just...never mind." Ginny blushed and looked down. Normally it was just the 'golden trio' who got mentioned, not the tag-a-long sister.

"So have you been sorted yet?" Harry asked. Dawn turned and smiled at him

"No the Professor said we'd have to wait until the beginning of term to be sorted with the first years. You're all in Gryffindor aren't you?"

"Yeah; it's the only house to be in-"

"If you're a mudblood or a muggle lover" snarled a voice behind the new Hogwarts students. "Hogwarts' standards are really dropping, first it lets muggle lovers in, and then mudbloods, now yanks."

"Well if it isn't slime boy. You managed to change yourself back then, Malfoy. That'll show you what happens when to pick on one of the DA; although, I think we did you a favour, you were much more likeable then!"

The blond haired boy glared at Ron. 'Oh God.' Thought Dawn 'Spike.' She still missed the bleached vampire. They may not have always been on the best of terms, but she had loved him like a brother.

"My father will not be happy about this!" Mini- Spike proclaimed

"Lucky for us your fathers locked up then isn't, it, Malfoy" Hermione said coolly

Malfoy's face drained of what little colour there was "Need your mudblood friend to fight your battle for you now Potter" he said before hurrying out of the store.

"Who was that jerk?" Dawn asked

"He was very unfriendly" Robin muttered, screwing up her nose in distaste.

"Draco Malfoy. He's a miserable, evil git who only exists to make our lives a living hell."

"Evil?" Flick questioned. Dawn had had to put a restraining hand on her arm to stop her punching Malfoy, there hadn't been any vamps to slay since they left LA and Felicity was getting restless

"Yea. His fathers a death eater and our mate Malfoy is set to follow in his footsteps and make his Daddy proud."

"Ron" Hermione scolded, "He may not become a death eater" but she didn't sound convinced.

"She's right" Dawn said "It's always the people you least expect who turn out to be evil, and the people you least expect who turn out to be good." Picture of a black haired Willow and of a certain ex-vampire with a soul came into her mind, but she pushed them away. It was still too painful to think about Spike.

"Are you OK" Harry asked, concerned. He'd seen the pain in her eyes.

"I'm fine. Hey are you going to Madam Maulkins?" She said changing the subject, but Dawn could still feel Harry's concerned eyes on her back.

'There's something about her.' Thought Harry 'she's not telling us everything' but he pushed it to the back of his mind and caught up with the others who had gone to get the slayers and Dawn's uniforms and Hermione's dress robes.

"How bloody long does it take to buy robes?"

Harry and Ron had already eaten an ice cream while they waited for the girls to finish shopping.

"Ron, do you think there's something more to those exchange student?"

"Like what? Their really death eaters who Dumbledore let into the castle? Or worse, reporters." Ron shuddered.

"No of course not. It's just what Dawn was saying..."

"Ah-ha! You like her I knew it."

"What? I don't even know her"

"No...But you kept staring at her in F and B's. There's nothing wrong with it mate, I mean look at her, she's hot, she's friendly...go for it!" Ron was pleased that his friend was taking an interest in what was going on around him again.

Since Sirius' death, Harry had been very quiet. He hadn't written to Ron and Hermione and refused to talk every time his Godfather's name was mentioned.

"That's funny, I was thinking that you should 'go for it' with Hermione"

"What? No way! Sooo not my type!" Ron spluttered, getting redder and redder

"Yeah. Right. Course not!" Ron hated it when Harry got that knowing smile on his face. "I think she likes you too. I mean your always arguing"

"And that's a good thing?"

"Apparently. I don't know why; It's a girl thing" Harry shrugged

"So, Hermione, what's going on between you and Ron?"

"Yeah, we all saw how he looked at you in the bookstore. Spill."

Hermione sighed. She had only known these girls for an hour, but she felt like she could tell them anything. Harry and Ron were great, so was Ginny. But it would be nice to have girlfriends who weren't her crush's little sister. "I like him. But he doesn't feel the same."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'm 'like a sister to him'. Nothing romantic."

"Well, we'll just have to change his opinion then, wont we!" said Flick lightly.

Hermione, Dawn and Flick had gone to get pets for the 'exchange students' while Ginny and Robinette stayed to finish getting robes. The pair had immediately gotten on together as had the three older girls.

"Oooh! I want an owl!" exclaimed Dawn "They carry post, right?"

"Yes." Confirmed Flick "I'll get an owl too- I can't stand toads and I'm not really a cat person."

Ten minutes later Dawn had a sleek black owl that she named Tara and Flick had a bright snowy owl that she named Manda.

To Hermione, they seemed quite sad after they got their owls. When she asked about it, Dawn just said that they were named after great friends who aren't around any more.

After they had met up with Ginny, Robinette and the boys; it was time for Dawn, Flick and Robin to meet with Skylar and Jaden for lunch. The entire group ended up going to the Leaky Cauldron where more introductions were made and food was ordered.

Over the meal the group asked about each other's past. Dawn and the slayers weren't sure how much was known about the slayer and the events in Sunnyhell in the wizarding world- and weren't sure how much they should tell their new friends.

Harry was telling the five about his experiences with Voldemort. They already knew the background info, but wanted to hear the whole story.

When Harry had spoken about most of his first five years at Hogwarts, he stopped when he got to the fight in the ministry of magic. Instinctively, Dawn reached over and squeezed his hand.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want too." She said softly

"No...I think I want to." He hadn't spoken with anyone and whenever he had tried they had cut him off, but now he needed to get it out. "Sirius, my godfather, came after us with the aurors. Curses were flying and he got hit by one of the death eaters. The curse pushed him back and he disappeared through the veil. You can't come back from that, it's like death. He died and it's all my fault." Harry put his head in his hands to try and hide his teary eyes.

Dawn instinctively went over to him and hugged him. "It's not your fault. I know what it's like to have someone die for you, believe me. You feel like it's all your fault, when really they knew the risks and were willing to take them... "She gently pushed Harry's face out of his hands so that he was looking at her "because he loved you. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. You've got to live, Harry, that was Sirius' last gift to you, go on living. Don't let his death be in vain."

After dinner, which was a quiet affair after Dawn's little speech, Hermione met up with her parents to go home and Harry went with Ron to meet up with his family to go back to The Burrow (Mrs Weasley had decided that it would be too painful for Harry to go to 12 Grimmuld Place so soon after Sirius' death).

While Skylar, Jaden and Robinette went to browse around some of the other wizarding stores, Dawn and Felicity went to go and get wands. Flick needed to get a new wand as hers was buried deep in the crater that was once Sunnyhell. On their way Flick wanted to stop and get her potion ingredients so they popped into the store, but Dawn was shocked at the prices.

"7 sickles for clamber weed? Anya sold it for much less than that! And Look! A galleon for shrocknah dust! Anya introduced Willow to a troll who can get it for nearly half that!"

Felicity was giving her incredulous looks. "You never had a normal childhood, did you?"

"Of course I did! Well, ok, maybe I didn't, but growing up with a 1000 year old demon; the most powerful Wicca in our hemisphere and a couple of vampires will do that to ya!"

"You still miss them don't you," said Felicity softly

"Yeah" admitted Dawn "I mean, why? Why did they have to die? Spike should be in LA with the rest of us, bugging Angel; and Anya should be with Xander in every sense. It's not fair. But I guess life's not fair, huh?" She pulled herself together and started to leave the shop. "Come on, let's go get those wands."

"Hello?" Called Felicity as they entered the musky shop.

"Ahh," and old man appeared from behind a shelf "a slayer. I've haven't had a slayer in here for decades. And, yes," he said turn from a shocked Flick to an equally surprised Dawn, "I was wondering when you'd be here Miss Summers. Your first want, yes? But Miss Newman, you have had a wand before, Oak, 10½ inches, hair of a unicorn? Yes, powerful wand that...let me see, yes, yes I think we'll try this for you..."

As Flick took the wand, she felt the same warmth in her as she did with her old wand and a shower of bright white sparks came out the tip of the wand.

"Yes, yes; mahogany, 11 inches, with a hair from the very same unicorn as from your first wand, just take better care of this one yes? Good. Now Miss Summers, if you would please hold out your wand arm..."

As a slightly dazzled Dawn held out her right arm, tape measures appeared from nowhere and started sizing her up. Mr Oliviander started pulling boxes from the shelves the covered the walls of the dark shop. As the tape measures finished, he took a wand and gave it too her saying:

"Oak, 9¾ inches, core of a dragons heart string" but as soon as she touched the wand her snatched it away. "No, try this one, willow 10½ inches, phoenix feather...No definitely not! Yew, 10 inches, unicorn hair..."

This went on for over half an hour. By this time Dawn's arm was tired and Flick was nearly falling asleep on the pile of disguarded wands. But Mr Oliviander was getting more and more excited.

"Ahh, a tricky customer. I haven't had a decent challenge since Mr Potter...hmmm...I wonder" He scurried off into a back room and returned with a very dusty box. He took out the wand and gave it to Dawn saying "give it a wave"

When she touched the wand she felt a warmth in her arm and when she waved it a shower of green sparks came out the end.

"Dawn. You're glowing" and indeed she was glowing a bright emerald green.

"Extraordinary...I've never seen a reaction like that in all my years ...9¾ inches, Willow wood, blood of the twice risen slayer and of an ensouled vampire- made and inscribed by two men living on a hellmouth who knew the slayer and vampire in question. It was a couple of years ago, shortly before a great battle with a member of their own, where their love for each other prevailed"

Dawn looked at her wand. It looked just like one of Xander's stakes and sure enough there was an engraving of a tiny heart with a stake going through it. Underneath written so small that Dawn could barely see it were the words 'Scooby's Forever'. This was her connection to home; Buffy and Spikes blood, Willow wood and made by Giles, she was sure of it. Her closest family all put something of themselves into this wand, and it was hers.

"With that core, well. It's a very powerful wand indeed; I think we can expect great things from you Miss Summers. Great things indeed."

Chapter 2 REWRITTEN.

For those who didn't get it, Dawns wand was made before Willow turned Evil.

Dawn doesn't know yet, about Spike coming 'back to life' which is why she still thinks him to be dead.

Who do you want the Hogwarts Slayer to be? I know who one is, and it's not Hermione, but who should the other one be? Please review and tell me what you think,

Kiara x x x


	3. The Hogwarts Slayer

A.N. In case you didn't guess, I'm English and so is my spelling!

Thanks to Christos for your suggestion and to Anne, Kenra and Blondi gurl (I liked your slayer suggestions) for your support! And also thanks to Akalea – I'll try harder with the grammar etc.

Slayers get called when they are 13. Robinette and Jaden are 14, Ginny and Skylar are 15, Dawn, Flick, Harry, Ron and Hermione are 16

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**CHAPTER 3- The First Hogwarts Slayer  
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"I'm so bored," sighed Jaden

"Me too, I haven't slayed anything since we left LA!" Felicity moaned.

"At least you've actually killed something more than a stupid boggart; our class did that in our first year!"

"What? Do you guys actually ENJOY slaying?" Dawn asked, slightly worried

Felicity answered for them "No, it's just, we have this power and its different fighting for real than training. I mean, don't you think we should have some field experience?"

"Yeah, besides, training is Bor-ing!" said Jaden

"I don't know...I'll talk to Dumbledore, he mentioned some vamps gathering in the forest."

"Vamps? Gathering? Apocalypse?"

"Nah, vampires are drawn to the slayer and we've got four here so they were bound to pick up on it. I'm surprised that they haven't tried to attack you guys..." Dawn mused "When the students come back, we should find the slayers as quickly as possible; they're targets too."

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"So, this is the forbidden forest. Do all magic schools have them?"

"Shhh" came the reply in four voices

"What? If the vampires hear us, then they come to find who's making the noise and it saves us the job of trying to find them. Think of it as bait, only different...and anyway you were the ones who wanted 'real-life experience' not me. Oh look; vampires...ATTACK!"

The slayers spit up with Skylar and Jaden double-teaming one of the vampires and Felicity and Robinette separating and going after two more vamps.

Dawn looked around. There were five vampires at the moment, but she could hear a couple more approaching. 'The slayers were doing quite well for their first time out,' Dawn noted 'Skylar and Jaden make a good team, and Felicity is holding her own' Skylar and Jaden had already dusted one vampire and had moved onto their second, as had Felicity.

One vampire separated from the group and crept up behind Dawn, only to be staked as she swung her arm over her shoulder without looking back. Skylar and Jaden had moved into fighting back to back against two vampires, they were having a little difficulty, as the vampires seemed quite experienced, but the slayers weren't in any immediate danger. Felicity was having no problems. She had the most experience out of the girls as she had been in the final battle in Sunnydale so this wasn't as new to her, she was throwing kicks and punches like a pro!

'Robin is the one likely to have the most problems' thought Dawn, looking around for her newest and youngest recruit. 'Where is she?'

"Ahh" Dawn heard a high-pitched scream in the distance and set off at a run. Robinette had been forced away from the group by two vampires. She had managed to stake one, but two more had appeared in its place. She had dropped the short sword that she was fighting with long ago, but one the vampires, a male who looked to be about 25 when he died, had picked it up and raised it to swing at her.

"Any last words?" Robinette closed her eyes and braced herself for the hit, but it never came. She opened one eye and saw Dawn, stake in hand, surrounded by a cloud of dust.

"Rule 1: Don't Die, Rule 2: Never give up." She said pulling the young slayer to her feet and kicking a vampire away at the same time. "You OK?" at her nod, Dawn handed Robinette her sword and she decapitated the remaining two vampires with two strokes of her weapon. "Nice, very nice," Dawn approved, "come on, I think the others will have finished by now."

As they returned to the group, Felicity was just staking the last vamp. "You guys OK?" she panted

"We are good," replied Robinette

"What happened to you? Where did you go?" asked Skylar, concerned

"One of the vampires forced me to go deeper into the forest" replied the French slayer

"Lets go back to the castle, Skye, and get you patched up."

"What?"

"Your arm, it's bleeding- you must have got cut in the fight. Part of the slayer deal is a high tolerance for pain, I bet you didn't even notice."

At Skylar's sheepish grin the others laughed.

"That was sooo cool! When can we do it again?"

"Jaden, it's not a game. This was a training exercise. The only time that you should fight is when you have to or in training."

"Oh come on, loosen up I mean we just made these guys turn to dust LITERALLY- and you guys are saying that you didn't enjoy yourselves?"

"I didn't enjoy it, I just, I mean..."

"You feel satisfied?"

"Yea" said Felicity, glad that Dawn understood what she was feeling. One look at Skylar and Robinette showed that they felt the same.

"That's how Buffy said she felt after a night patrolling...Faith just said she felt hungry and horny!"

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"Hey guys!" Skylar called, coming into the common room that was part of the suite that Dumbledore had given them for their stay. Until they could be sorted at the beginning of term in a week's time, they couldn't access the four houses so were staying in a separate part of the school.

Despite being from Germany, Skylar only had a slight accent and spoke fluent English. When asked about it, she had said that it was because her mother was English and she grew up learning both languages.

"Hey guys!" she repeated

"What's up, Skye?" Felicity asked

"We got an owl from Ron and Harry inviting us all to the Weasley's tomorrow."

"Cool, it'll be nice to get out of the castle. What do you say Dawn?"

It still amazed Dawn that these girls looked to her for guidance; after all, she was the same age as one of them and only one or two years older than the rest. "Yeah, sounds like fun!" she said and image of a dark haired boy with glasses coming into her mind.

"You just want to make goo-goo eyes at Harry again." Flick teased. She knew she'd got the right idea as Dawn's face started to redden causing the slayers to laugh.

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"What time is it?" Harry asked calmly

"10 minutes since you last asked," said Ron laughing, "they'll be here any minute. Calm down!"

"They're here" Ginny called, bounding down the stairs. Ron gave Harry his 'see, I told you so' look, to which Harry just rolled his eyes and went to meet the guests.

"Hi Harry" Dawn exclaimed throwing her arms around his neck. Neither wanted the moment to end, but Dawn moved on and gave the same, albeit briefer, welcome to Ron and Ginny.

After everyone had said hello and been introduced to the rest of the Wesley family, they split up. Jaden, Skylar and Robinette went up to Ginny's room and Flick and Dawn stayed downstairs with Ron and Harry.

"...So you fly around on brooms and try to get the balls in the hoops? So it's like basketball, then?" Ron was trying to explain quidditch to Flick.

"What's basketball?"

"Never mind"

"If you want to try it, we've got some brooms in the shed. I could teach you." Ron offered

"Great! Coming Dawn?"

"No way! Got this thing about heights every since a crazy hell god tried to sacrifice me. Funny story, remind me to tell it to you some time."

"Riiiight. OK, Harry are you coming...or will you stay will Dawn?" Ron was smirking as he spoke

"I'll stay here, you two go on."

Felicity and Ron left the room smiling and sharing knowing glances with each other.

"Sooo...Can I ask you something, you don't have to answer, it's just I was wondering about what you said in the Leaky Cauldron..." Harry trailed off unsure how to ask his question.

"Yes." Dawn prompted him.

"You said you knew what I was going through, how? Sorry, it's just..."

"I understand. You know what I said about the hell god? Well, she kidnapped me and used my blood to open a portal to a hell dimension. All these creatures were flying about and destroying everything and the only way to stop earth turning into another hell dimension was for the blood flow to stop. I was supposed to jump."

"Supposed to?"

"Yeah. My sister, Buffy, caught up with us and jumped in my place. It killed her. She was dead for 3 months and then Willow, my friend, she's a Wicca, did a resurrection spell and brought her back to life."

"A resurrection spell? Did it work?" Harry's eyes shone with hope

"Oh it worked. We thought Buffy was in hell, but we were wrong. She was in heaven. She was at peace and we ripped her out. It was nearly a year before she pulled out of her depression and started to live again."

"Oh." Said Harry, the hope fading

"He'll be happy Harry, I promise you he's in heaven."

Harry smiled weakly "Happy, huh? I should let him go. Thanks"

"For what?"

"Everything...for understanding."

"No worries! So how does Ron feel about Hermione?"

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"Ginny! That's the third plate you've broken this week!"

"Sorry, mum." Ginny's face started to turn red.

"I don't know what's gotten into you. Everything you touch you break!"

"Mum!" Ginny gripped the chair in embarrassment.

"Why can't you be more careful? Is it so much to ask just for you to-"

The wooden chair that Ginny had been holding had broken under her grip

"What?"

"Whoa"

"I think we've found our first slayer, Dawn." Felicity had barely spoken above a whisper, but everyone heard her.

Noise broke out over the table as the slayers and Ginny's family all started arguing.

"Slayers don't exist"

"Of course they do!"

"Bloody hell"

"What?"

"How do you explain how she was able to break the chair?"

"She's got a point, that's just not normal."

"The slayer's a myth!"

"What's a slayer?"

"Oh my God!"

"Let Dawn explain!"

"The slayer is one girl chosen to fight. She is given the strength and skill to fight the vampires and the demons. I think Ginny may be a slayer."

"But the slayer's a myth!"

"Err, excuse me, I'm a slayer, so are Jaden, Skye and Robin. Are you saying we don't exist? Trust me it's real and I have the scars to prove it!"

"How can you all be slayers? The myth says that it is ONE girl."

"Firstly, it's not a myth. Secondly, that all changed about three months ago.

"My sister, Buffy, was this generation's original slayer. She was drowned by a master vampire and was dead for a few minutes before she was revived. But that was enough, a new slayer, Kendra, was called and there were two slayers. Kendra died after a bit, and the Faith was called.

"I guess the second part of the story starts about a year ago. The First Evil and its lackeys, the bringers, started tracking down all the girls with the potential to be slayers and killing them and their watchers."

"Watchers?"

"They guide the slayers and train them. The watchers council was here in England before it was blown up."

Recognition dawned on some faces. "It was in the Daily Prophet," Mrs Weasley explained, "They said a special, muggle council's headquarters was levelled in a massive, magical explosion."

"Yea it was, there are only a handful of watchers left. Anyway, the bringers were trying to kill all the potentials so that there would be no one to continue the slayer line when Buffy died."

"But no one tried to kill Ginny."

"The best we can figure it is that all the magical energy around witches shielded them from the bringers location spell. It's shielding you pretty well from our magic. I can only find out the rough area a slayer is in and how many there are.

"So anyway, Buffy started gathering the potentials to our house in Sunnydale-"

"Wait, Isn't Sunnydale on the hellmouth?"

"That's right. We had an army of 40 girls and the First had thousands of Ubervamps, they're like super strong vampires, so we did the only sensible thing and opened the hellmouth for a final battle.

"We have a friend, Willow, and she is the most powerful Wicca in the western hemisphere. During the battle, she performed a spell where all the girls who had potential to be a slayer actually became slayers. Aside from the potentials in the hellmouth, there are about 100 other slayers who we hadn't found; and you, Ginny, are one of them."

"I can't be a slayer, I mean, I'm just me, just Ginny."

"I did not believe it at first Ginny, but it is true. You are feeling stronger, oui? And you are faster are you not?"

"Ginny, we didn't know it was you at first, but we know that there are two slayers attending Hogwarts, and now I know, I can feel the power coming from you. But you don't believe me. It's OK- most of the others didn't, but there is a test."

Dawn hadn't finished speaking before she pulled a dagger out from her belt and threw it hard, fast and strait at Ginny's face. Ginny caught the knife between her palms inches before it would hit her face.

"Wow!" "Cool, Ginny!"

"Err, Dawn, we've got trouble." It had gotten dark as Dawn had been talking and there was a group of vampires standing at the open door.

"Ahh!"

"Why aren't they coming in?"

"They can't come into a house without an invite."

"Great I'm in the mood for a good fight," said Jaden clapping her hand together and receiving funny looks from everyone "What? I am."

"Fine, fine," Dawn said, "go kill. But do it quietly. And, I can't emphasise this enough, DON'T DIE!"

As the slayers ran out of the door wielding various weapons that had been pulled out of sleeves, from around ankles and from inside belts, the Weasley's looked on, astonished.

"I know this must be a bit of a shock..."

"That's the understatement of the bloody year" Ron muttered

"Where do you come into this?" Mrs Weasley demanded, "You're not a slayer are you?"

"No, I'm not a slayer. Due to the lack of watchers and huge numbers of slayers, I was asked to be a watcher to all the slayers who are also witches."

"Because you're a witch." Dawn nodded. 'Telling them the whole truth may be a bit much right now'

"So what do I do now?" Ginny asked in a small voice

"Absolutely nothing!" Mrs Weasley was shouting. "No daughter of mine is going to be a slayer, risking her life everyday, because that's what she will be doing isn't it" she gestured to the girls fighting outside, "those are just girls, they can't fight evil! They'll be dead within a month!"

"Mrs Weasley, my sister has been a slayer, the slayer, for nearly eight years. She started when I was nine years old- that's how old I was when I was first kidnapped. I promise you Mrs Weasley, Mr Weasley that I will do everything in my power to make sure Ginny doesn't get hurt, just as I promised that to the other slayers parents. And let me tell you, I never break my promises.

"Evil is drawn to the slayers power. Ginny's a target for vampires, demons and God knows what else. It will be better if she can protect herself."

"What about Hogwarts?" Dawn smiled at Ginny; at least she was considering it.

"As far as that is concerned, nothing changes. You go to Hogwarts and take your normal classes and then in the evenings you train with me and the rest of the slayers, speaking of which HEY! Is everything OK out there?"

Flick's voice called back quickly. "Just Peachy! We'll be done in a minute! Ha! Take that! That'll teach you to mess with a slayer!"

"No-one at the school will know that you're a slayer. There's a whole secret identity thing. It's really important that you don't tell anyone that any of you are slayers or that I'm a watcher.

"While you're at Hogwarts, you'll be trained in hand to hand combat and how to use the weapons, then when I think you're ready, you will start patrolling with the rest, NEVER on your own. Once you've finished at Hogwarts you can decide if you want to be a slayer, if you don't we'll leave you alone knowing that you can protect yourself if the need arises. If you do want to be a slayer, then you can either go to LA to the slayer academy and placed where you are moat needed, or you can stay here, get a job and then patrol in the evenings. You retire when you want to. It's not a job until the death, a slayer's life expectancy isn't 18 anymore- there's no reason why it should affect your everyday life. Think of it as an extra-curricular-activity. "

"Ginny, love," said Mr Weasley as the tired looking slayers came in, "it has to be your decision."

"Arthur! How can you say that? She's just a baby! Look at those girls! They're exhausted! How can you even think about letting her do this?"

"We're OK, Mrs Weasley, really. Problem taken care of." Skylar smiled reassuringly.

"It's quite fun really."

"See?" said Mr Weasley. "She's not a baby, Molly, hasn't been for a long time. What if Dawn, Felicity and the rest of the slayers weren't here tonight? We would have been attacked by vampires and powerless to stop it. You heard what Dawn said, the evil is drawn to the slayers; she's a target. We can't force her, but if she is trained, she'll be safer. Won't she?"

"Dads right, mum." Fred murmured

"Yes, she'll put herself in danger if she doesn't train to control whatever powers she has" agreed George

"And us." Continued Fred

Mrs Weasley nodded, her eyes watering "Ginny, you don't have to, you know that? We'll find another way, I promise you..."

"She doesn't have to make a decision now, she can think about it over the summer if she wants to."

"I don't need to. I've made my decision." Ginny declared, her voice wavering slightly. All the people in the room, wizards, slayers and mystical balls of energy looked at the youngest Weasley to see what she had decided.

"I'm going to train; I want to be able to protect myself...and my family. I'll be a slayer."

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Wow, 12 pages! Chapter 3 done, finally!

Sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I've done a spell check, but it's really not my strong point.

I still don't know who my other slayer will be and I'm getting a touch of writers block.

Please review with any suggestions!

Kiara x x x


	4. Looking After Number One

A.N: Not sure where this chapter is heading, but I guess I'll soon find out!

Thanks to Matt, Christos and Akalea for reviewing. I liked the slayer suggestions and my writers block has gone, yay!

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**CHAPTER 4- Looking After Number One  
**  
"Lift your arm up, Skye. Robin, put some weight behind your punch. Duck, Jade, the idea is not to be hit!"

Dawn sighed. They were sloppy in training. When they were in the forest fighting for real they did okay, but just the other night, Felicity nearly got her arm ripped off.

'They can't depend on their slayer strength, they can't keep thinking that they're invincible...that need to take the training seriously.' She thought. 'But how can I let them know how dangerous it is without scaring them?'

That was the real question. All week she had been trying to think of ways to help them train with no real success and when they went out on patrol, they nearly always out numbered the vampires or at least had two or three people watching their backs and helping them out.

'What's different with them to with Buffy, Willow and Xander?' she wondered, 'Wait a sec, Willow and Xander! No super-strength so Buffy had to look out for them. She couldn't depend on them...that's it!'

"Hey guys! Take a break!" She waited for them to sit down before continuing. "Tonight we're going to do things a little differently-"

"We're still going on patrol, right?" asked Jaden- that girl just loved killing things!

"Yup- that's what we are doing differently. You guys are a great team, or two great teams if necessary. But you've never been out on your own. You could easily be attacked when you're by yourself and right now, you're not prepared for that."

"What? Why not?"

"We've been training in single combat for weeks, of course we're prepared"

"Dawn, we can look after ourselves."

"Quiet! I'm your watcher, I've been looking at you train, but when you're in here you don't take it seriously. No, you don't, Jaden; and you know it! Tonight half of you will patrol in different parts of the forest and tomorrow night the other half will patrol, also split up. Whoever's left behind will watch over you by this spell that I've been working on. Is that okay?"

"You mean you're finally gonna let us go it alone? Great!"

"Jaden, it's gonna be dangerous out there. You have to be careful."

"I don't know, Dawn" Flick started to say. "Are you sure that we can do this?"

"Honestly? No, I'm not sure. But I'll be watching you all and the moment your life is in danger I'll open a portal and pull you out of there. I promise. This is part of being a slayer guys; to be able to look after yourself and others without having someone to watch your back. Tonight we are covering looking after yourself, when you can do that we'll cover looking after yourself AND others. OK? Great, everyone meet in the living room at eight."

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"Your late."

"Sorry Dawn." Said Skylar, meekly

"Oh, come on, only by a couple of minutes!" Jaden protested

Dawn ignored her "Jaden, you and Flick are going out tonight. Jaden, take north, Flick, take south. Be back by twelve at the latest."

As Flick and Jaden loaded up on weapons, Skye and Robinette watched as Dawn set up her spell. A couple of minute later she was done and two hologram type pictures floated in mid-air following the two girls towards the forest and then each following a different slayer as they split up to go to their parts of the forest.

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"Take that!" Jaden had finished dusting her third vampire that evening with little problems.

'Can't take care of ourselves? Yeah, right! I don't know what's got into Dawn- why's she gone all drill-sergeant on us? It's not like we don't know what we are doing. It's always Jaden be careful, Jade do this, Jade so that! It's so...'

Jaden was so caught up in her thoughts, that she didn't hear a vampire come up behind her...but its attacks were sloppy and she dusted it easily.

"Too easy! Come on, where's the challenge?"

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"Uh-oh!"

"What?" asked Robinette, anxiously looking at the screens showing the slayers walking through the forest.

"Didn't you hear what Jade just said?" At Robin's nod Dawn continued, "She just jinxed herself big time!"

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Jade continued into the forest, whistling. She was trying to get the vampires to come to her. It was dangerous, she knew that, but did she care? No way.

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"What the hell does she think she's doing? Does she want to get killed?" Dawn yelled at the screen hovering about the table. 'I don't know how Giles did it' she thought.

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Jade heard something behind her.

"Here vampy, vampy, vampy!" she called and the creature stepped out- but it was no vampire.

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"I said she was gonna get killed. Didn't I? Didn't I say she would get herself killed?"

"What is that?" Skylar asked, ignoring Dawns almost hysterical rambling.

"Welcome to demons 101 girls! That is a Horrah Demon."

"Horrid Demon?" Robinette questioned

"Horrah Demon" Dawn repeated, "they're not hard to kill- if you know how."

"How do you kill one?"

"Decapitation."

"Of which head?"

"All of them. But you have to chop off the last head within five minutes of chopping off the first head or they grow back."

"Ohh. Easy then, practically a walk in the park."

"Sarcasm is not your friend Skye, besides, after some of the things we've come up against, it is easy."  
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Jaden was fighting the demon. So far she was covered head- to- toe in green slime, but still hadn't defeated the demon.

"Jaden!"

"What? Holy Crap!" There was a little light floating about a meter from her face.

"Don't worry, it's only me!"

"Dawn?"

"Duck! You've got to decapitate it- all three heads within five minutes. I'll send the others if you need them."

"Right." Jaden kicked the demon away from her and raised her sword "Bring it on."

Five minutes later the Horrah Demon was lying on the floor and its three heads were scattered around the little clearing.

"Eww!" Jade pulled out her wan and pointed at herself, removing the green slime and demon guts from her jeans and t-shirt.

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Meanwhile, Felicity had yet to come across a vampire in her side of the forest.

"I bet they're all going to little miss kill-a-lot" she grumbled under her breath.

After walking for a few more minutes, she stopped and listened.

'Chanting?' the young slayer asked herself 'who'd be out here at this time of night? Ooh, I should probably start heading back soon, I'll just see what's happening...'

As Flick went deeper into the forest, she the chanting became louder. She couldn't stop herself feeling afraid as she approached a clearing in the woods.

She hid behind a large tree and tried to hear what was happening, but they were talking so quietly.

She edged closer. Felicity could make out fifty or so bodies, 'men' she thought, all dressed in black hooded cloaks.

'I can't go any closer, without being seen or heard' she realised, so she stood still and listened to what was being said.

"Do you bring me any news from the school, Severus?" That voice- it sent shivers down Felicity's spine.

'Severus? Snape? That can't be right...' but as the next voice spoke Flick knew that it was him.

"Hogwarts has opened its doors to mudblood filth from around the world," Snape was saying, "there is an exchange program and there are five students staying at Hogwarts from other wizarding schools"

Now Felicity was really confused 'He knows that we're slayers, all the staff do. Why wouldn't he tell whoever that is the truth, unless he's really on our side...'

"Very good, Severus. "The hissing voice was saying again, "you have pleased me. Ahh, Albert; how far have you got in freeing our fallen comrades?"

'Fallen comrades? The death eaters in the Azkaban! But that would mean that the one giving the orders is...' Felicity froze, petrified. She was brought up to fear Voldemort and now she was eves dropping on him.

"Forgive me, my Lord, but there are several layers of charms to work through and aurors guarding your followers."

"So you have failed?"

"No, no my Lord, it is just taking longer than anticipated."

"Very well Albert...Cruico!" The man's, Albert's, screams echoed around the forest.

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"Come on Felicity, get out of there!" Dawn murmured.

Beside her Robinette and Skylar had turned white, Robinette was barely breathing. Dawn sighed. If anyone were to go to help Flick, it would have to be her.

"Instincts! Trust your instincts- run, go on."

But it was no use, Felicity couldn't hear her.

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The man lay groaning on the floor, meters from where Felicity was hiding.

"Severus, see to that!"

Snape walked over to 'Albert' and levitated him to the edge of the clearing. His eyes locked with Felicity's but the surprise barely registered.

'He'd be good at poker.' Thought Felicity nervously.

"Go." Was all Snape said. Felicity started to back away slowly, her legs still feeling like jelly.

"My Lord! The scanners have picked up on something. There is someone here who doesn't bear your mark."

Felicity stood frozen to the spot.

"Look for him! Find whoever it is and bring them to me!"

Felicity heard footsteps coming towards here. But she still couldn't move. They'd catch up with her any second.

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"Oh my God! RUN!" Dawn was shouting at the floating screen in the middle of the room, "They're gonna catch you!"

Skylar stood and stared at the screen. Her friend was moments away from her death and she couldn't help her.

Robinette was crying. "Do something, Dawn! You have to do something!" she cried hysterically.

But what could she do. All the three girls could do was to stand and watch the death eaters get closer to their friend.

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Don't ya just love cliffhangers? And I'm extra mean, cause the next chapter is already written! Please Review so I know if anyone is reading this.

TEASER:

"Stop! Kill her, kill her quickly!" another frantically shouted

"Avada Kedavra!" several voices shouted

Felicity saw the green light of a killing curse head towards her and squeezed her eyes shut, braising herself for the blow.


	5. Apocalypse? Big Deal!

Does anyone read authors notes? If you are- thanks! A big thanks to blondi gurl, matt and Susan for you reviews and ideas. I do read the reviews and listen to what you say. Thanks again.

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**CHAPTER 5- Apocalypse? Big Deal!  
**  
Felicity could hear them. One they came around that tree they would see her and drag her to Voldemort. Run! Her brain was screaming but her feet wouldn't obey.

This is it- no chance of fighting. Fifty fully-grown male wizards and their evil ruler against on teenage girl, she didn't stand a chance. She closed her eyes a waited.

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"Do something!" Robinette was screaming

"I...I can't" Dawn admitted, "Maybe they wont see her."

"How can they miss her?" asked Skylar dully

"They can't" sighed Dawn

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"Over there" shouted a death eater

'This is it'

"Stop! Kill her, kill her quickly!" another frantically shouted

"Avada Kedavra!" several voices shouted

Felicity saw the green light of a killing curse head towards her and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the blow.

But all she felt was a sharp tug on around her waist and fell backwards.

She opened her eyes as Robinette threw herself on top of Flick where she lay on the floor.

"Can't breath!" stammered a voice from underneath the pile of hugging slayers, who quickly moved to help their watcher up.

"I save your life and what thanks do I get? You try to suffocate me!"

"What happened?" Flick asked "One minute I was there, the next I'm here."

"I opened a portal and pulled you through and then closed it immediately after we came through.

"I think one of the hooded guys saw me as I started to open the portal cause he kept pointing and yelling to kill you before you got away...at least I think he wanted to kill you, may have wanted to kill me. You never know with evil lackeys."

"Dawn" Robinette tapped her watchers shoulder. "We should get Jaden back now, oui?"

"Oh my God, I totally forgot about her! Wait, she should be back now anyway, it's 12.30. I'm going to fetch her and then, I'm going to kill her. You lot go to bed. The less witnesses the better."

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Jaden was walking through the forest when she heard something. She turned around, stake raised, only to have something grab her wrist.

"Come on" said Dawn "the portals just here. We're going back to the castle."

Without waiting for a response, Dawn pulled Jaden through the portal.

"You were supposed to be back at 12"

"And?"

"It's 12.30"

"Oh. Sorry I guess I lost track of time. Wont happen again, promise." But Dawn didn't believe Jaden's casual promise.

"Do you have any idea how...Oh, forget it. We've got more important things to worry about. Flick had a run in with a bunch of death eaters that were in the forest."

"What, is she OK?" said Jaden, shaken badly at the news.

"Yeah, I sent her and the others off to bed. You should probably join them, we're meeting with Dumbledore tomorrow morning and it would be best if you get some sleep." Seeing that Jaden still looked shaken, Dawn spoke in kindlier tone. "Jade are you OK?"

"There were death eaters in the forest? Was he-who-must-not-be-named there too?"

"Say his name. Names are power, remember that. Not saying a name is giving someone or something power over you. Yes Voldemort was there, but he doesn't know that you and the others are slayers. Your safe, don't worry."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. When you became slayers I told you I'd keep you safe, and I intend on keeping that promise."

"Thanks."

"But Jaden, if you go looking for trouble like you did tonight I can't try to keep you safe from it. It could have been anyone of us out there tonight. One of us could have died, we're not invincible and you have to realise that or you'll end up dead"

"Sorry." And this time Dawn could tell the scared looking slayer really meant it. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

After Jade had gone, Dawn too went into her room. She flopped down onto her bed with a sigh. How was it possible that she just aged twenty years in an hour?

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"Did you find them?" hissed Voldemort

"Yes, my Lord...but she apperated away."

"That's impossible! You can't apperate inside Hogwarts. She? It was a girl?"

"I believe so, my Lord, we did not get a clear look at her before she disappeared."

"She could not just disappear you fool! Cruico!"

"Ahh! She did my Lord. I swear it, Jaines, Smites and Martoil saw it too." The death eater panted

"How? How did she do it? Very well you may go, but I do not take it well if my servants fail me twice."

"Yes, my Lord. Thank you my Lord."

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"...One of my slayers almost got killed. Are you telling me you didn't know Voldemort was in the forest? Why the hell not?" Dawn's eyes were flashing and she sported a glare Spike would be proud of. It was the night after the forest fiasco and Dawn hadn't calmed down.

"Miss Summers I am very sorry. The forest is not all on school grounds. From what you and Miss Newman say, this took place outside of school grounds. It is not possible for Voldemort to set foot inside the school boundaries."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Well that's something, I suppose."

There was a knock at the door. "Come in, Severus" Professor Dumbledore called.

"Yes, Severus, I was in the middle of a meeting with Miss Summers."

"You were there last night." Accused Felicity.

"Severus works as a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. He tells Voldemort, what we have previously agreed on."

"We figured as much."

"You did?" Snape sounded surprised

"Well, duh. I heard what you told Voldemort, you didn't tell him we were slayers and you knew the truth. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

"Try telling that to Potter." Snape muttered

"What was that, Severus?"

"Nothing, sir."

"Well, as I was saying to Miss Summers, Voldemort is obviously hiding in the forest. I fear that he may actively try to over power Hogwarts and the ministry before the school year is up."

"So we've got an apocalypse on our hands?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so Miss Summers."

Dawn sighed. "Right...is that all, can we go now?"

"Miss Summers," Professor Snape began, "I am not sure that you are aware of the severity of the situation."

"Oh I'm aware. I've lived through several apocalypses, 10 at the last count I think.

"Anyway I've fought vampires, demons, friends, hell gods and the First Evil. While your wizard may not be a walk in the park, he can't be much worse than that, now, can he?"

"Friends? Hell Gods? First Evil?" Snape stammered

"Oh right, you're not familiar with the Sunnydale history are you? At some point, nearly all of my friends have been evil, one nearly destroyed the world. But she's really sorry about that and she's recovered from her little 'I need power' stage now, well mostly. She still has relapses but she hasn't tried to kill me or take over the world for over two years now.

"A crazy hell god kidnapped me a few years back so that she could use my blood in a ritual. But my sister rescued me and defeated the hell god. Then Buffy, that's my sister, died to save the world; again, but don't worry we resurrected her- my sister I mean, not the hell god.

"And the First was basically what all evil comes from. He wasn't corporal and, believe me, that's never good. We fought him for nearly a year while he tried to kill all the potential slayers. He's the reason Sunnydale is no longer on the map and why the potential slayers were activated.

"So I'm sure you can gather, professor, an apocalypse is a fairly regular occurrence for me, no biggie, see?"

"Err, yes, of course." Snape still looked completely stunned.

"Good, now that's settled, I have a suggestion. What with the upcoming fight-of-our-lives and all, maybe we should call in the cavalry?"

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After the slayers and their watcher had left Dumbledore's office, Snape turned to the headmaster.

"Ahh, yes Severus. What was it you wanted to see me about?"

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"Meet in the training room in an hour guys- I think we're gonna need to train a tad more than we originally thought don't you?"

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"Where's Felicity?"

Robinette, Jaden and Skylar were playing a game of exploding snap in the common room.

"She's in her room." Skylar said without looking up

"She said she had the head-pain."

"A headache" Jaden corrected as Dawn went up the stairs.

"Flick?" she said pushing the door open. "How you doing?"

"I'm fine, just a headache, you know."

"Really?"

Felicity sighed

"Thought not."

"Everything's so weird. It wasn't this hard with the First. We just went to battle, became slayers and killed the Ubervamps. Now it's this thing which everyone is afraid of and it's who killed thousand of people-"

"So did the First. Voldemort is part of the First if you think about it. Your strong, Flick, you can defeat this."

"Or die trying, huh?"

"Nope- they'll be none of that negative thinking on my watch, missy."

"But what if-"

"Ah, ah, ah. Think positive. You can't focus on 'what if's' you gotta concentrate on what IS"

"Thanks, D"

"No prob. What are friends for, if not to comfort each other in the face of an apocalypse?"

"You bring up an excellent point." Felicity joked

"I do don't I? We'll get through this. We're like the junior Scooby's or something- Hey! We can be the Scrappy's!" (AN: This is for Matt)

"The Scrappy's?"

"Yeah." Said Dawn enthusiastically. "You know Scooby Doo had a nephew or something called Scrappy. He was Scooby Junior, so we're the Scrappy's. Get it?"

"Right." Flick wasn't nearly as excited as Dawn at their new nickname. "Puppy Power." She muttered.

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"It's the Dark Lord," Professor Snape was telling Dumbledore, "he has found a prophesy that the 'boy who lived is to be helped by the key in his mission to defeat the Snake Lord.' He doesn't know the whole prophesy, even what he does know has not been translated word-for-word, but the meaning is positively right."

"Oh, dear. I have worried about this."

"That the Dark Lord will want the key?" Snape was surprised

"No, not specifically. I worried that Voldemort would try to get power through some kind of ancient source." Snape flinched at Voldemort's name, but Dumbledore ignored him and carried on speaking.

"Severus do you know what the key is?" Snape shook his head. "It is a ball of magical energy which is very powerful. It can cause dimensional walls to crash down making portals as well as many other things. It is one of, if not the most powerful objects in existence."

"We have to find it."

"No one knows where it is, it was said to have been briefly activated nearly three years ago. But we don't know for sure. And neither could Voldemort. We may never find it, but we do have a secret weapon in this battle, Severus. One we didn't have last time."

"What?"

"There is currently a very powerful Wicca and four slayers downstairs who will be students here. And two more slayers will join them at the start of term.

"By forming an alliance with these girls, we have in turn formed an alliance with over a hundred more slayers, including the most powerful slayer to ever exist; as well as joining forces with another Wicca, a vampire with a soul and a powerful, inter-dimensional law firm.

"I think that this is going to be an interesting year, don't you Severus? Very interesting indeed."

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I've Reached 5 Chapters! Yay! The 4th chapter was shorter, but I'm going to try to keep them above 2000 words in the future. What do the readers want to happen in the rest of the fic?

Please review and tell me.


	6. Ginny's Frist Slay and Back to School

Authors Note: This story is a bit slow in starting but now they're back at school, it'll move along more quickly.

Thanks to matt, blondi gurl and Yisulain for reviewing.

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**CHAPTER 6- Ginny's First Slay/ Back to School  
**  
"Mum!"

"No, Ginny; that's my final answer! There is no way you're going out with those girls."

"But, Mum, how else will I learn?"

"You've only had two training sessions, Ginny. And even when you've had fifty, there's still no reason for you to go out looking for trouble."

"Looking for trouble? It's called a patrol."

"It doesn't matter what you call it, you're not going out looking for vampires."

The two had been arguing for the last half hour and they had drawn quite an audience.

The twins were sitting at the top of the stairs glad that it was someone else in trouble for a change. Ron and Harry sat on the sofa, trying hard not to smile.

Ron privately thought that his little sister could look after herself. She had thrown him across the living room the other day because he may have made a tiny comment about the people she had chosen to correspond with over the summer.

"You can't stop me! It's my destiny!"

"Ginny, love," Mrs Weasley tried a softer approach, "I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I wont, Mum. The others will be looking out for me and Dawn will be on the sidelines ready to do some magic if I get into trouble. Please, I have to do this."

"Very well, but I don't like it, and be careful."

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The next evening, Ginny was getting ready to go out on her first patrol.

"Harry, can you get that?" She called down the stairs as the doorbell went.

"Hi, Harry!" Dawn said as he opened the door.

She was wearing a short black skirt and a low cut black top with a red oriental pattern on the front. Her brown hair hung loosely down her back and there was a delicate silver heart necklace around her neck.

"Err...hi. Where are the others?"

"They're waiting outside. We thought it might be a bit much for Mrs Weasley to see all the weaponry on Ginny's first night."

"Good thinking...so, are you not fighting tonight?" he said, gesturing to her clothes, in particular the high heeled black boots.

"If I have to. Remember this Harry; a lady always knows how to use her heels to her advantage. But tonight, I'm the bait- I've just go to show up and look appetising! Hi Ginny! You ready?"

"Yup, see you Harry." She said leaving a slightly stunned Harry in her wake.

"Oh Merlin! You've got it bad Harry." Ron had appeared at the top of the stairs.

Harry shook his head. "Shut up, Ron" he mumbled.

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Dawn was walking down an alley behind a club in London. 'Here we go' she thought as she sensed a vampire come out behind her.

"Hey there, cutie."

"Hey there, vampire." The vampire lunged forward and grabbed her.

"I got you, whatcha gonna 'bout it?"

"Oh not much, just this." Dawn screamed. The vampire looked confused and then turned to dust as a crossbow was fired at him.

"Yuck, I got vamp dust on my clothes. Ginny, did you see how Felicity did it? Good, could one of you reload it and let Ginny have a go."

Ginny watched as Felicity reloaded the crossbow and then handed it to her with a smile- "You'll do great!"

They walked on a bit until a vampire came at them in a run.

Quicker than you can blink, Ginny raised the crossbow and shot at the vampire through the heart.

"Way to go, Ginny!"

"First time to stake a vamp, how does it feel?"

"Right through the heart...this time." Jaden said.

Ginny blushed. They had already come across a small group of about four vampires and Ginny had missed the heart when she tried to stake one.

"Everyone misses the heart at some point. Buffy missed it the first time she staked a vamp too, and I did on my first training session."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh- only the once though. Come on, let's call it a night."

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"Hello? Where is everyone? Felicity? Ginny?" Dawn called into the empty training room.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" a dozen voices called. Dawn looked around the room in surprise.

There were the Weasley's and Harry, her slayers and several staff from Hogwarts. Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Sprout and Hagrid were all there, as was Professor Dumbledore who was smiling and wearing a party hat.

"Oh my God, how did you know?"

"Buffy and the Scooby's sent a big package with your gifts in. Why did you tell us?" Felicity explained giving Dawn a gift from all the slayers.

"No reason, but...Wow!" Flick, Robin, Skye, Jade and Ginny had all clubbed together and gotten her a slender sword. As Dawn examined the handle, she saw her name engraved on it surrounded by a delicate pattern. "Thanks" Dawn said giving her friend a hug.

"You're only 16 once right?"

Dawn grinned. "Hey Ginny, Ron, Harry. Glad you could come."

"Hi Dawn. Happy birthday." Ron said handing her a book shaped present. She ripped off the paper with a smile and found two books. One was 'The Legend of the Vampire Slayer' and the other 'Killing the Most Demons for the Least Amount of Work'

"Thanks, Ron." She smiled as a nervous looking Harry gave her a small box wrapped in bright paper. "You didn't have to..."

"But I wanted too." He chewed on his lip as Dawn opened her present.

"Wow, Harry."

"Do you like it?"

"It's gorgeous! Would you help me out it on?" She lifted up her hair as Harry fastened a silver necklace around her neck. It had a fairly large silver cross pendant hanging from the centre. She turned around and kissed Harry on the cheek. "Thank you." She whispered.

"So when's your birthday?" Dawn asked

"July." Harry replied, "It was a couple of weeks before we met you."

"I feel bad now, I didn't get you a present."

"Dawn?" a voice called from across the room

"Giles? Oh my God! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed hugging the man who had been like a father to her.

"I was in England on Watcher business and I thought I'd drop by. Everything going ok?"

"Everything's great! Oh, thanks." She took the rectangular parcel from the head of the watchers council. It was a leather bound diary with her name written across the front in gold letters. When she opened it she saw each day had a rectangular box on each page.

"It's magical," Giles explained. "All you have to do it think of a memory and it will appear in those boxes and it will stay there until you remove it. Every watcher needs a diary."

"Thank you, I'm glad you came." Dawn felt tears pricking at her eyes as she thought of her family and was swept into another hug from Giles.

"We all miss you."

"I miss you too, all of you."

"I better let you get back to your guests. I have lots to do before tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"That's...err...that's when I'm flying back to America."

"Ohh." Said Dawn in a very small voice.

"I'll come back and visit, soon. And I think Buffy may want to come and see you. And you can always open up a portal to LA, anytime." Dawn's face brightened; she'd forgotten about portals.

"I'll visit soon."

"Not too often though. We don't want anyone to know of your...unique abilities."

"I promise. See you soon." Dawn said giving him a final hug.

"Very soon." Giles assured before he left the castle.

"Miss Summers."

"Professor Snape. Thank you for coming." Dawn was surprised to see the potions master.

"Yes. I believe that it is customary to give gifts at your muggle...gatherings."

Dawn's jaw nearly hit the floor. Snape was giving her a present?

"Well, here you are and happy birthday." Dawn could have sworn he smiled as he thrust the gift into her hands and swept out of the room.

She gave herself a mental, and physical, shake and looked down at the object in her hands.

Dawn was holding an ankle sheath, but not a normal one for a dagger. This one had several vials of liquid around the edge each one labelled with a different potion that may be useful to her.

There was veritiserum (truth potion), paléserum and baltiserum (protection potions), baneserum (an exploding potion), 2 poisons and two anti-poisons. There was a note attached to the sheath. It read:

'Each of these vial contains enough for one dosage of the potion. They are made of unbreakable glass and each refills magically when you have used its contents.'

Dawn was shocked at the thought he had put into her gift. But she did not have time to ponder it as Professor McGonagall came to wish her many happy returns on her 16th birthday.

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That evening, when Dawn was alone in her room, she opened her gift from the Scooby's. It was all contained in a big wooden chest with a pattern carved on the front. 'Xander' thought Dawn, knowing that he made it.

The first package was from Faith, Principal Wood and some of the new slayers who she had know well. There was lots of what Faith called 'slayer essentials'. Leather trousers, fighting tops, a dagger and a denim bag with a mini protection kit which had a holy water spray bottle and a couple of stakes.

Next, Dawn came to her gift from Angel's group. There was a series of collapsible weapons; sword, crossbow and weird flicky-wristy-things. There was also a pair of cross earrings that would match the necklace Harry got her.

The next gift was from Willow and Xander. It was an especially charmed mobile phone that worked in the school and a black off-the-shoulder top. There was also another chest inside, although this one was much smaller. When Dawn opened it she saw that it was set up into compartments that were all full of magical supplies that may come in useful if she needed to brew a potion.

The final gift was from Buffy. 'Clothes' Dawn guessed feeling the floppy package. She opened the pastel carefully and pulled out a soft leather jacket, a pair of embroidered jeans, a baby blue dress that would reach about half way down her thigh and three tops- one red spaghetti strapped, a cream and black halter and a pale blue jumper with ¾length sleeves.

Not a weapon in sight from Buffy, Willow or Xander. Although Dawn appreciated the thought that went into her gifts, she was a teenager so loved getting new clothes!

Looking at the bottom of the trunk, she saw a framed photo of all the Scooby's a bit before Buffy died. Dawn fingered the picture, feeling homesick. She lay back on her bed, hugging the photo to her and fell asleep.

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"Dawn, wake up!" It was nearly a week since Dawn's birthday and now the photo stood proudly on her bedside table.

"Don't make me hurt you! Come on, the rest of the school is coming back today."

Dawn groggily looked up to Felicity before what she was saying registered.

"Crap! What time is it?"

"11.45. They don't arrive until dinner, but you said you wanted to do a sweep of the grounds before they arrive- make sure there's no nests or anything."

"Right. Are the others up? Are they ready to go out?"

"They're up, but not ready."

"May as well leave it to after lunch then. Wait, 11.45? Ahh! I've gotta get ready, move!"

45 minutes later Dawn joined the slayers and the Hogwarts staff for lunch. As there weren't very many people staying at the school over the summer, everyone was sitting at one table for meals.

"Miss Summers." Dumbledore greeted. "You have, of course, remembered that the rest of the school are returning today?"

"Yes, professor. We thought that we would check out the grounds this afternoon to make sure there aren't too many nasties lurking about when the students arrive."

"Very good. Will you have any potatoes? The house elves have made them splendidly!"

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"They're here!" Skye shouted. The group of 'exchange students' were supposed to join the first years to be sorted and would then move to whichever house they were put into.

As the first years, slayers and Dawn walked down to the front of the great hall, they were followed by whispers wondering about the five very old looking first years. Professor McGonagall held up her hands for silence.

"The sorting will be different than normal. We will be starting with five exchange students who will be coming to Hogwarts indefinitely." She turned to the groups of people standing in front of her. "When I say your name, come foreword and put the sorting hat on your head. It will tell you which house you will be in and you will go and sit at that table. Chardon, Robinette!"

Robin nervously went up to the stool and put the hat on her head.

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'A slayer? We haven't had one of your kind for a long time. Yes I talk.' The hat said feeling Robin's surprise. 'You're intelligent and hard working, a very good combination. I know where to put you..."

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It was there for about 10 seconds before it shouted "Ravenclaw!" and Robin went off to sit with her new housemates.

"Mormon, Jaden!" Professor McGonagall called.

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'Another slayer,' the hat said softly to Jaden, 'but, unlike Miss Chardon, you crave power. It better be...'

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The hat barely touched her head before it shouted "Slytherin!" Dawn and Felicity shared a nervous look. They'd heard about Slytherin and it couldn't be a good sign that a slayer was in that house.

"Newton, Felicity!" Flick put the hat on her head.

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'You have seen true evil, but you still fear.' The hat told her. ' You care about your friends and will risk anything to save them, very noble. Yes, definitely..."

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"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted without any hesitation.

"Reiner, Skylar!" McGonagall called the last slayer.

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'No slayer for centuries, then four in one night!'

'I'm the last one' Skye thought to the hat.

'Well, well. There's an eagerness to prove yourself. You want to be seen out of your siblings shadow, am I right? You would do well in Hufflepuff most definitely, but I don't think that's right for you. However, if you take the chance, you have the potential to excel in Gryffindor. It will be hard work and a gamble. It is your choice, Miss Reiner.'

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The hat seemed to be thinking ('Do hats think?' Dawn wondered) before placing Skye in "Gryffindor!"

"Summers, Dawn!" The young watcher was the last 'exchange student' to be called.

Dawn walked up to the hat and nervously put it on her head.

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'Well, well, well, I wondered when you'd be coming to Hogwarts; the key was bound to come.' A voice was saying in Dawns ear. 'But where to put you? You could function in any of the houses.

'There's a loyalty to your friend that would do well in Hufflepuff and a mind to rival any Ravenclaw's. You have seen darkness and it haunts your soul so you could go to Slytherin and you have a bravery that Gryffindor would be proud of.

'But where to put you? Slytherin or Gryffindor I think. Yes, yes, that's what we'll do. I think that it should be "Gryffindor!"'

Dawn put the hat back on the stool and went to her seat in between Felicity and Harry whilst "Abram, Jane" was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"You were up there for ages!" Felicity murmured

"Was I?"

"Yeah- what took you so long?"

"The hat didn't know where to put me. Said I could be in any house."

"It said I could be in two," Harry said, "but I chose Gryffindor." The three stopped their conversation as Snape was glaring at them and applauded as Emily Wilson was sorted into Gryffindor.

Dawn looked up and down the table at the smiling faces. This was going to be her family for the next year.

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The story will begin properly in the next chapter. PLEASE REVIEW.

Kiara x x x


	7. Suspicions and Vigilance

Hi readers! I just wanted to say thank you for reading my story, and a humongous thanks to all those who have reviewed: matt, sofi, Amanda, Dee, Susan and LizaGirl. I like knowing if people are reading my story.

Also I'm going on holiday for 10days, so I won't be updating at all next week.

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**CHAPTER 7- SUSPICIONS and VIGILANCE  
**  
"Dawn!" Hermione caught up with Dawn and the others as she was leaving the Great Hall. "Hi, I don't know if you remember me, I'm-"

"We remember you Hermione!"

"Right. That's good then. I just wanted to tell you three who you'd be rooming with because I'm the Gryffindor prefect." She told Dawn, Flick and Skye. "Skylar; you're going to be in a room with Ginny, Sharon, Katie and Alison. You two will be coming in with me, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. I don't know how we're all going to fit; maybe they've used magic to expand the room... I can't wait for classes to start tomorrow, what are you taking? I wonder who the new DADA teacher will be..."she mused.

Dawn and Flick exchanged grins. Hermione was very much like Willow. Even if they hadn't already found that out over the summer (Ron was constantly talking about her.), they could have worked it out over their brief conversation with her.

"Hey Skye! You're rooming with me, isn't it great! Come on I'll show you to our dorm! Hi Hermione!" Ginny dragged Skye towards the Gryffindor dorms.

"I'd say that I'd show you the way, but the guys can't get into the girls rooms. The stairs turn into a slide if we try to climb them." Harry explained.

"It's OK. We'll just wait for Hermione. You go."

"OK. See you tomorrow. Bye Flick." Harry went off to rejoin Ron with a wave.

"So you two seem to be pretty friendly. Harry said you met up again over the summer."

"Yeah. We saw each other a couple of times...did he tell you what for?"

"Yea. He said that you visited the Weasley's a lot 'cause there's not much to do here."

"Oh, Is that all he said?" Dawn asked casually trying to find out if Harry had told Hermione about the slayer-watcher thing.

"Yes. Why? Should he have said anything else?" Hermione was starting to get suspicious.

"No, no, it's just..." Dawn looked to Felicity for help.

"Dawn wanted to know if he'd said anything about her." Dawn flashed her friend a grateful smile, that turned into an irritated look.

"Oh." Hermione seemed happy with this explanation. "He's defiantly interested in you, but he doesn't know if you feel the same. To get into the Gryffindor rooms, you just say the password to the fat lady portrait." Hermione said, indicating a big portrait as she spoke. "Never tell the password to anyone outside Gryffindor. The password's Pumpernickel." The painting swung open and the three Gryffindor's clambered through the hole that had appeared.

"This is the common room." Hermione was saying. "The girls rooms are up here, your trunks should have been moved already."

For the next half hour, the witches unpacked. Then Hermione, Dawn and Flick went down to the common room to meet up with Ron and Harry who were playing wizarding chess.

"Check mate!" Ron exclaimed as the girls came down the stairs.

"Hi guys. Whatcha doing" Flick asked

"Wizarding chess. Do you want to play? Harry isn't very good at it, and that's an understatement."

"Hey!"

"What? Your not."

"I know...but still, Hey!"

"I'll give it a go." Flick volunteered

"Cool!" Ron set up for another game whilst Hermione watched. She couldn't help but feel jealous at Ron and Flicks happy chatter.

'He's your friend. NOTHING more. He probably doesn't even think of you that way. And anyway, all we do is fight.' Hermione turned around and met Dawn's knowing gaze and couldn't stop herself from blushing.

'Damn!' That was the problem with having girlfriends- you told them about boys and then they know how you feel.'

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"Wake up!" Hermione was trying to wake Dawn for the first day of classes.

"Here, allow me." Felicity offered. "Dawn, if you don't get up this minute, I'll tip up that bed with you on it and then you'll fall on to the nice cold floor!"

That got her up. Hermione was surprised that an empty threat like that got her up. 'After all,' she thought, 'Flick couldn't lift that bed if she tried.'

Despite their little wake up routine, all three made it to breakfast on time.

"Hey guys!" Jaden came over to the Gryffindor table. "Are we patrolling tonight?" she asked in a quieter voice.

"Jaden." Dawn scolded. But it had already been said and Hermione had heard.

"What's patrolling?" she asked.

"It's, ummm, an American thing!"

"Yeah, that's right! An American thing."

"What kind of thing?"

'Damn that girls suspicious' Dawn thought. 'That could be a problem.'

"Nothing much. It's kinda like a marching thing where we march and stuff." She finished lamely. Hermione didn't look convinced. "Talk to you later Jade."

"OK, sorry about that."

"Why's she sorry?" Hermione still wasn't convinced

"We didn't want anyone to know, about the patrolling, I mean."

"OK" Hermione said slowly.

The group continued with their breakfast, but Hermione was still suspicious.

'They're hiding something.' She thought. 'And I'm going to find out what it is.'

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"Hi Harry, Ron." Hermione said running up to her friends. "Did Dawn and Flick talk to you much over the summer?"

"I guess. Why?"

"Pur-lease. You didn't really believe that patrolling story did you? It's obvious that they're trying to hide something."

Hermione didn't see the looks Harry and Ron were trading behind her back.

"W...What do you mean, Hermione?"

"Patrolling club? Honestly Ron! What if they're spies for Voldrmort?"

"Dumbledore wouldn't let Voldemort's followers into the school." Harry pointed out.

"Half the Slytherin's are Voldemort's supporters, look at Malfoy, he'll take the dark mark as soon as he leaves school."

"But they're not in Slytherin."

"Jaden is."

Harry couldn't argue with that. He was surprised when one of the slayers was put into Slytherin and Dawn had been worried about her wanting power and something about having faith? Or possibly being like faith, but that didn't make any sense. Anyway Dawn knew more about these things than he did, and he could tell it scared her.

"Maybe not all of Slytherin are evil." Hermione looked at the boy-who-lived in surprise. He always insisted that all Slytherin's were evil.

"Maybe not. But we still need to find out what their secret is."

As Hermione strode off to history of magic, Harry and Ron exchanged worried glances.

"We can't let her find out." Harry said firmly.

"Why not? I mean I know Dawn said not to tell anyone but this is Hermione. We can trust her. Why can't we tell her?"

"Tell who what?" Another voice interrupted.

"D...Dawn!"

"Hi. Tell who what?"

"Hermione. About the slayer thing. We can trust her, Dawn, I know we can."

"I trust her too Ron. But," she held up her hand to stop his protests, "the less people who know the better. It's safer for her and us."

"But it's Hermione. She wouldn't tell anyone."

"Not intentionally, no. But what if she's forced to? There are magical ways to extract information, aren't there?" At their confirmation she continued. "Well what if she told someone about Flick or Skye or Me...or Ginny?"

She was playing dirty and she knew it. Ginny's safety was too important to Ron for him to risk it.

"But...OK." He relented. "I won't tell her."

"Me neither. But she will find out, she's not stupid." Harry warned.

"I know. And that's what worries me."

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Dawn looked around the class. Professor Binn's was droning on about some reformation or something at the front of the class and Hermione seemed to be the only one listening. Harry had fallen asleep on his textbook across his desk and Ron was doodling on his parchment. Dawn tried to focus on what the ghost was saying but soon drifted to sleep with her head on her hands.

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'Where am I?' Dawn thought. She spun around feeling a tap on her shoulder and found herself looking into Harry's eyes. He lifted a finger to his lips without saying a word, but Dawn understood the meaning: be quiet. He guided her though a forest until they came upon a group of people sitting around a chair. Dawn couldn't see the person sitting on the chair as he was in the shadows.

"Very good Wormtail." The person in the chair was saying. "You have pleased me."

"Th...thank you, my Lord."

"You may go. Tell Albert and Rasta to come to me" The small man backed away bowing. As he approached the edge of the clearing where Harry and Dawn were crouching, he turned towards them. Dawn couldn't stifle a gasp. He was the one who had ordered the men in cloaks to fire the killing curse at Felicity. But he didn't even look at them.

Dawn looked questionably at Harry who mouthed 'I'll explain later' Harry pointed at the man in the chair in the clearing 'Voldemort.' Dawn tried to get a better look at the rather frail looking man in the chair, but couldn't see. Instead she settled with mouthing a question at Harry. 'Why are we here?' 'I'll tell you later. Do you trust me?' he mouthed. Dawn nodded receiving a smile from Harry.

Another man, Albert, walked strait past them and approached the centre of the clearing where the chair sat. "My Lord," he said bowing his head, "I have made a great breakthrough in the protection spells surrounding some of our number. They should be able to come back to you soon."

"It's about time. I do not like to be kept waiting...but they do not need to be here yet. Do not free them until I say so."

"Yes, master."

"RASTA!" Voldermort hissed at a man cowering in the shadows. Albert made a hasty exit as Rasta reluctantly approached his master. "What more have you found of my prophecy?"

"We found someone who knew of the prophecy, my lord, a knight. We were going to question him this morning. But he killed himself before he could tell us about the key."

Harry felt Dawn grip his hand. When he looked at her, she looked terrified and all the colour had drained from her face.

"So you know nothing more."

"No, my Lord." The man admitted.

"Nothing more? All I know is that this key can give great power to me or Harry Potter." He practically spat out Harry's name. "What if he finds it first?"

"I'll try harder my lord."

"You cannot do it, you're useless. Cruico!"

Harry clutched his forehead in pain and suddenly Dawn was thrust back into her class.

"Harry?" she heard Ron say. Harry seemed to be having a fit. He was clutching his forehead and moaning in pain, but was still asleep. Suddenly he shot upright in his chair, wide-awake.

"Are you OK, mate?" Ron asked

"Yeah, I just need some fresh air. Professor?" with Professor Binn's consent he left the class. About five minutes later the bell went and the rest of the class left.

Dawn, Ron, Hermione and Flick hurried off to find Harry. They found him in the Gryffindor common room.

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine."

"Why did that happen? You were fine in the forest."

"The forest?" Ron was confused. "You were in History of Magic."

"The dream was in the forest. Why were you there?"

"I don't know." Dawn admitted. "I've prophetic dreams before, but nothing like this."

"Prophetic dreams? Real one?"

"Yeah. Not often through."

"Whoa. Trawnerly would go nuts! Do you predict deaths?"

"Ron, we're getting off topic. What was the dream about?" Hermione reminded them of the matter at hand.

"Voldemort." Harry said dully. "He said that he was getting more supporters to come back to him and that a key would give one of us power."

"What kind of key? A key to what?"

"I don't know. He wanted to find it before me."

"Then we'll find it first. I'll go to the library and look in some of the books."

"What about these followers?" Ron asked, rolling his eyes at Hermione's predictability.

It was Dawn who answered him. "He's going to get the death eaters out the Azkaban."

"Bloody hell!"

"Ron, don't cuss. He can't there are shields and aurors stopping them from escaping."

"They've found a way to get through the shields."

"We've got to tell Dumbledore."

"We have DADA in five minutes." Ron pointed out.

"Then we'll go afterwards."

"Hey, who's the new teacher? Did you see anyone knew at the feast, Harry?"

"No. You don't think Snape's taking it do you?" Flick shuddered. She'd only been coming to Hogwarts for a couple of months, but she already disliked the potions master as much as the other Gryffindor's.

"Honestly don't you two listen to Dumbledore?" at their blank faces, Hermione continued. "The teacher hasn't arrived yet, so we get a sub until they arrive."

"Thank Merlin!" Ron muttered as the group rushed to their next lesson.

"I don't believe it!" Harry exclaimed as they entered the room. Draco Malfoy came in behind them and went very pale.

"Hurry up and sit down." A gruff voice said.

The students hurried to their places and waited for the teacher to start the lesson.

"Welcome to class. Some of you think you have met me before. I am Professor Moody." He said lifting up his hat and making a third blue eye rotate in its socket. "Today, we are going to practice counter curses. I am told you learnt the theory last year, but that won't get you anywhere if you are attacked as a lot of you will be at some point. Constant vigilance! You have to learn that...pair off!"

Felicity went with Jaden, much to the disgust of a lot of their classmates, Harry asked Dawn and Ron hesitantly asked Hermione. In each pair they swapped between hurling minor curses and raising a shield to deflect the jinxes.

Malfoy, partnered with Pansy Parkinson, was accidentally hit with a curse that deflected off Dawn's shield that turned his hair blue. Too get his revenge, he hurled a boggy jinx at Dawn when her back was turned, and only just managed to duck as it reflected back at him hitting Pansy.

"Summers! Malfoy! Potter! Come here!" Professor Moody saw what happened and called the trio over before Harry retaliated with a particularly nasty boils hex. "Parkinson, go to the nurse." He said to the sobbing girl who fled the classroom before he finished speaking. "What happened?"

"Malfoy hurled a hex at Dawn when her back was turned." Harry explained.

"Did you put up that shield for her, Potter?"

"No, I don't know how she did that. She couldn't have seen it coming."

"I had a reserve shield up. I always have one, just in case." Dawn explained. Moody looked impressed.

"What kind of shield? You can't hold any shield I know for too long of a time."

"No, sir. It's a Wicca protection spell."

"You can do Wicca?"

"What's the point in being a Wicca?" Malfoy scoffed. "They are only muggle wannabes!"

"Well if reflected your curse pretty well Malfoy. Besides didn't you hear about the Wicca who nearly destroyed the world? Well she's amazingly powerful and she taught me a lot of what I know."

"Where are you from Summers?" Moody asked

"America"

"Yes, yes, I know that, where abouts in America?"

"California. Sunnydale to be exact."

"The hellmouth?"

"Yes, sir." Dawn was surprised. Not many people knew about the hell mouth.

"Why do you always have a shield up?"

"Constant Vigilance?" Dawn suggested. "Living on a hellmouth means you can be attacked at any time."

"A little paranoid, don't you think?" Malfoy sneered.

"Just cause you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that they're not out to get you." Dawn retorted.

"Absolutely!" Moody exclaimed. "I like you kid- sound way of thinking, keep you alive longer."

"Err thanks, I think."

"Malfoy, sit down. 100 points from Slytherin."

"Miss Summers, one more question. Why, if Harry was the only one hexing you, did you keep the shield up?"

"Someone else may try something." Dawn replied. "My sister always said never assume anything, including who may be trying to kill you. Just cause one person tries to kill you; there's no reason why someone else may try to do the same."

"Good answer."

"How good?"

"10 points to Gryffindor."

"Thanks professor!" Dawn said going back to her place.

"I really like that girl!" Moody said to Harry. "You could learn something. Constant vigilance, Potter. Never forget it."

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The next morning, there was much chatter at breakfast. And it centred on the new DADA teacher who had been seen arriving that morning, but who hadn't been seen since.

"I wonder who it." Ron said to Dawn, who was bright eyed for breakfast as she and Flick had gone for a run that morning.

"No idea." Said Dawn with a smile.

"You know something." Accused Harry.

"Who? Me?"

"Yes, defiantly."

"Whoever it is won't last more than a year anyway." Said Ron.

"Why not?"

"The curse. First year was Quirrell, he turned out to be evil and tried to kill Harry. Second year was Lockhart, he obliviated himself-"

"Obliviated himself?" Dawn asked, not understanding.

"Lost his memory, totally. Anyway, then it was Lupin but he was a werewolf and the parents didn't want him teaching."

"That's stupid. He would have only been a wolf for three nights a month and then he could've locked himself up then."

"How do you know so much about werewolf's?" Hermione asked. She was still trying to find out the so-called exchange students secret and not having much luck.

"They were attracted to the hellmouth where I used to live." Dawn lied, not wanted to tell them about Oz. "Most of them just locked themselves in a cage before sunset and rode it out in there."

"So, after Lupin, it was an evil Moody impersonator who tried to kill Harry and last year it was Umbridge who made us read the textbook's all lesson and kept trying to prove Harry was crazy."

"You don't have much luck with Defence teachers do you?" Flick joked to Harry.

"Not really. I-"

He was cut off by Dumbledore entering. When the hall was quiet, he began to talk.

"Good morning, I hope you all slept well. Today our newest Defence Against the Dark Arts professor begins teaching; I know you will all make him fell welcome. He was once a student here at Hogwarts. Without any further ado, I introduce you to Professor Giles."

Giles entered the hall, to a round of applause, smiling at Dawn who waved back. "Hello." He greeted. "I look forward to teaching you."

"In addition to Professor Giles, we also have some new staff joining us to take additional classes. But they wont be at Hogwarts for another month as they have unfinished business to attend to. With that said, everyone tuck in!"

"Did you know he was coming?" Harry asked

"Of course! I recommended him."

"You know the new Professor?" Semus Finnegan called from down the table.

Dawn could feel Giles watching her, listening to the Gryffindor's, but that didn't affect her answer.

"Yes, I do."

"How?"

Dawn smiled at Giles. She had been angry at him for trying to kill Spike even though she and the bleached vampire weren't on the best of terms. Thing's hadn't been the same between them since that, especially with Spike dying in the final battle.

She turned to Semus and said in a clear voice: "He's family."

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I just did a word count: over thirty-two-hundred words! My longest chapter yet!

Do you want the Scooby's to come to Hogwarts? Also, do you want Draco Malfoy to be evil? It's your choice, if I don't get reviews, I'll just do whatever.

Please review and tell me what you want or don't want to happen in the next few chapters.

Kiara x x x


	8. Here Endeth the Lesson

I got nearly all my information from the Demon Database for this chapter.

In the Angel timeline, this happen in about 5x03 (unleashed) & this story contains VERY edited quotes and slight spoilers from that episode.

Thanks to matt, Blake5, Liza girl, Christos and Orion the Hunter for reviewing.

I'm going to start the 2nd Hogwarts slayer this chap, but it's an ongoing project thing. As for Blake5's question: Maybe (

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**CHAPTER 8- 'Here Endeth the Lesson'  
**  
"Giles!"

"Hello Dawn. How're you?"

"I'm good. You?"

Giles was Hogwarts new DADA teacher. It was his first day of classes and his first class was with the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's.

"Dawn?" Jaden stood in the doorway.

"Come in, Jaden. I've told you about Rupert Giles, Giles this is Jaden Mormon and you remember Felicity."

"Hello Jaden, Felicity. And how is Dawn doing as your watcher?"

"Really good."

"Yeah, she's cool. I was worried we'd get a stodgy English bloke who lived in a library."

"Jaden!" Felicity warned

"What? Ohhhh. I'm sorry, you don't seem like a stodgy British guy, I didn't mean to... No offence."

Giles looked amused. "None taken. So you are happy with your watcher?"

"Yes."

"Marvellous!"

"Giles; you've gone all British!"

"I am British Dawn."

"Yea, but you weren't as British in America. Does that make sense?"

"Oddly enough, yes. Are all three of you in my first class?"

"Yup. And you have Ginny and Skye 3rd today and Robinette tomorrow morning."

"Professor? Can we come in?" The rest of the class was arriving.

"Yes, take a seat."

When the class arrived, Giles began his lesson. "Can anybody tell me what a hellmouth is? Yes, Miss...?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Yes Miss Granger."

"A hellmouth is what it sound like- a mouth of hell. It has an unusually high amount of dark magic surrounding it and that attracts all kinds of evil creatures."

"Very good. 10 points to Gryffindor. What types of creatures are attracted to a hellmouth? Miss Mormon."

"Vampires and demons."

"Can you name any particular types of demon?"

"Umm, Horrah demons." Jaden said remembering her encounter in the forest. "Werewolf's, Brachen demons, umm"

"Well done 10 points to, what house are you in?"

"Slytherin"

Giles barely managed to hide his surprise. "10 points to Slytherin. Can anyone name anymore demons?" Dawn was her only one with her hand up. "Dawn, go ahead."

"Vengeance demons, chaos demons, fyarl demons, morah demons, kulak demons, gnarl demons, large and small bone eaters, various evil insects, sloth de-"

"Thank you Dawn." Giles interrupted her. "10 points for Gryffindor. We will be covering demons later in the week. Today we are going to talk about vampires. Can anyone tell me the legend of the vampire? Yes, Miss..."

"Brown, Lavender. Vampires were created when a demon bit a human being and mixed their blood. The victim became "a human form possessed, infected by the demon's spirit "--essentially, a human-demon cross. This vampire bit other humans, and so on, and so on, creating an entire race."

"Very good. 10 points. A good friend of mine once described the siring process like this: "they have to suck your blood. And then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing."

Some of the class laughed at this. When they stopped, Giles continued. "When you die, your soul leaves your body. If someone is turned into a vampire, their body rises, but their soul doesn't return. The demon takes over and it's not the person it once was. Can a demons soul come back to them?"

Several of the class shook their heads. "Yes." Giles said.

"That can't be right."

"Miss Granger are you calling me a liar?" Hermione flushed deep red. "A vampire can have his soul cursed back into him or can go through an enormous amount of pain and a great deal of trouble to get his soul restored. But only one vampire has ever chosen to get his soul restored to my knowledge. Can anyone name any of the ways to kill a vampire? Miss Newton"

"Wooden stake through heart, beheading, direct sunlight, drinking holy water, natural fire, umm a cross and garlic will deter them...have I forgotten anything?" Flick asked Dawn

"Nearly. There's a poison called killer of the dead and the blood of a mohra demon if the vamp doesn't have a soul. But that's it I think."

"Yes, that's everything. 10 points to Gryffindor. Right you appear to have background knowledge of vampires. Does anyone know of any famous vampires?"

"Dracula!" Came a voice.

"Yes Dracula does exist. He's a bloody ponce if I may say so, but five points to your house anyway."

"The Scourge of Europe. Darla, Angelus, Drusilla and William the Bloody. No-one one knows exactly what has happened to them, but they haven't been heard of for years." Hermione spoke up, sounding as if she had digested the textbook as usual.

"Does anyone know anymore more about the Scourge? No one? Very well, Dawn, if you please..."

"Darla sired Angelus, who sired Drusilla, who sired William the Bloody. Darla died and was brought back and sired by Angelus. She's dead now, for good this time. Dru and William were in love. She was crazy and is still about somewhere. Angelus liked to brand his victims with the sign of the cross. He killed a gypsy girl and was cursed with a soul. He is rumored to be in America. William the Bloody used to like torturing his victims with railroad spikes. He was captured by a muggle organization that put a special chip in his head to prevent him hurting people. No-one knows where he is now." Dawn felt tears come to her eyes thinking of Spike, but blinked them back.

"Thank you Dawn. For next lesson, I want you all to read the chapter in your books on vampires. You may go."

As the class were leaving, Giles called Dawn back. "Would you like to come to my room after your classes have finished? We have some catching up to do."

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"Buffy said you hadn't visited."

"No. I just haven't had the time or the privacy to open a portal."

"I think you should go, they miss you."

"I phone all the time."

"There are some things you can't say on the phone." 'Like that a very good friend has come back from the dead and is tied to an evil law firm' Giles added mentally.

"I want to see them. Besides anything else, I want my laptop. Willow said she'd charm it for me and I really can't write on parchment. You should have seen Snape's face when I handed in an essay done in regular white paper and a fountain pen!"

"I can only imagine." The head of the watchers council said dryly. "Are you happy with your slayers?"

Dawn grinned. "I knew you couldn't last 10 minutes without talking shop! They're good. They're willing to learn, it's just there's five people looking to me for guidance and it's weird, you know?"

"I know. But if anyone can do it you can. You've been helping Buffy for years, there are times we couldn't have done without you."

"Yeah. If I wasn't there who else could you rescue every other week because they've got themselves kidnapped again?"

"Xander?" Dawn smiled. "Seriously though, your research skills and language abilities were very helpful, not to mention your resourcefulness in a fight."

"Thanks, Giles."

"Anytime. So have you had any luck finding the second slayer attending Hogwarts? "

"Not really. I've got a short list though. But no certain leads- it may even be someone not on the list."

"Well who is on the list?"

"Erm...Contestant number one is a Slytherin- Pansy Parkinson. She showed her strength in beating a 1st year Hufflepuff into a bloody pulp.

"Contestant number two is another Slytherin, Blaise Zambini. I can sense power coming off her; but as we're in a magical school, it could just be that she's a powerful witch or carries a magical object around with her or something.

"Behind door number three is Cho Chang, a Ravenclaw. I've seen her speed and agility when she was flying in quidditch. Susan Bones from Hufflepuff is a possibility for the same reasons as Cho.

"Maybe Millicent Bulstrode from Slytherin for her strength or Luna Lovegood from Ravenclaw for her courage and quick thinking. Maybe even Hermione for the same reasons, but I don't really think so. Rose Zeller is another possibility- she took martial arts classes and is said to be very good at them even though she's only a second year Hufflepuff.

"Emily Flinch- Fletchedy is a possibility. Her brother said she'd got stronger over the summer and could kick his ass at quidditch now, even though she only a first year Ravenclaw. Padma or Parvati Patil possibly, but they're twins so I really don't thing that's likely.

"Katie Bell, maybe, or Jenny Frost. They both play quidditch, Katie for Griff and Jenny for Hufflepuff. They're both really good: fast, agile and strong. All slayery qualities.

"That's quite a list." Giles commented.

"Ten candidates. I'm not counting Hermione or the Patil twins. I've spent too much time with Hermione so I know it's not her and the slayer power would be split between the twins so there would be three slayers instead of two."

"At least it's a start. Don't rule out any possibilities, it may be the person you least expect. Now to change the subject: Jaden was put into Slytherin, do you know why?" Giles took off his glasses and started cleaning them, earning a grin for Dawn.

"I don't know." Dawn sighed, the grin fading. "I thought it might have something to do with wanting power or something. She definitely loves a good fight. Kinda reminds me of Faith and we know how that turned out. How did you deal with Faith?"

"We didn't do anything. What could we have done? She just denied it and half killed anyone who tried to stop her. And rouge slayer is more dangerous than a good one...what are you going to do?" Giles asked

"I don't know. I mean it might be OK."

"It probably will be."

"But I'll keep an eye on her, just in case."

"Good idea. If you need me, all you have to do is ask."

"Thanks, Giles. So what's going on in LA?"

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"Flick, can you cover for me tonight?"

"Sure where you going?"

"I'm using Giles' office to open a portal and then I'm going to visit LA."

"OK is anything wrong?"

"I don't know Giles was acting weird, but he didn't say anything."

"OK, say hi to everyone for me. Where will you portal to?"

"Wolfram and Hart. I'll be back for breakfast tomorrow, if not you might wanna call, make sure everything's alright. Oh, if Jade or anyone asked tell them we'll go patrolling tomorrow night."

"OK, see you tomorrow."

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As Dawn stepped though her portal, closing it behind her, she walked toward what sounded like Angels voice.

"Where is she?" he demanded.

" I don't know what you're... "

" Wrong answer!"

"But it's a secret. If I tell you, this man, he's not like you. You're a good guy, but he's a...well no offence, but he's scarier than you."

"Wanna bet!" Angel growled, switching faces.

Dawn peered into the office. Angel was all vamped up and threatening a wimpy looking guy. The guy ('a scientist?' Dawn wondered) gave Angel the right information and was dragged out another door. Dawn looked out the window and saw a black car speeding off a few moments later. She guessed it was Angel's from the blacked out windows.

'Now what do I do?' A grin appeared on her face as she heard something, or rather someone. Wesley was having a conversation on a walkie-talkie about meeting up with Angel at a hotel to rescue some girl.

"Wes!"

"Dawn! It's good to see you. What are you doing here."

"Visiting. I take it Buffy's not here? Mind If I tag along with you guys then?"

"I don't know, it could be dangerous."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Wesley, I'm an incredibly powerful witch and I can fight. I'll be fine."

"Come on. We're meeting Fred and Gunn in the parking lot."

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"Angel this little picnic was such a good idea." Fred was saying. They had won their battle with the werewolf eating people and Nina was inside Wolfram and Hart cleaning up.

"Yeah man," Gunn said. "Why haven't we done this before?"

"Has anyone seen the plum sauce?" Wes asked

"We're clean, nobody's listening." Fred finished scanning the area with a little device she had hidden inside the 'picnic' basket. You couldn't trust Wolfram and Hart.

"Good!" Gunn turned to Dawn. "How did you do that green-freezy thing?" One of the 'evil guys' had tried to shoot at Nina and Dawn had shot out a green ray that paralysed the man.

"I'm a witch, it comes with the territory. Besides haven't you seen Willow use magic? And don't you guys ever do spells?"

"Willow's still not fully recovered. She only does spells when absolutely necessary, and it hasn't been absolutely necessary and we do incantations really, not actual spells."

"Fred, had you seen our special guest recently?" Wes asked the young scientist, sending a sideways glance at Dawn.

"No he went 'whoosh' a while back and I haven't seen him since."

"I love it when he does that." Angel commented from the shadows. "One minute he's here, the next minute 'whoosh'"

"What are you talking about?" Dawn was thoroughly confused

"Err, Buffy has a surprise." Angel said. 'Well,' he thought, 'it will be a surprise.'

"Hi Nina!" Fred said loudly

"Hi." The new werewolf was very subdued, understandably. "What are you doing?"

"Having lunch. A picnic. Together."

"Like one big happy family?" Nina was sceptical.

"Yup. One demon hunting, helping the helpless, dysfunctional family. You'll be OK, It's not so bad being supernatural."

"How do you know? You're not a monster, are you?"

"Nope! I'm a standard issue science nerd. But I did spend five years in a hell dimension until Angel rescued me."

"He rescues a lot of girls, huh?"

"Girls, guys, puppies. He's an equal opportunities hero guy. But you will be OK."

"Next he'll be telling me he likes being a vampire."

"Well...being nearly indestructible is cool!" Angel put in.

Dawn, who had been eating a sandwich from the 'picnic', started choking.

"Sorry," she coughed, "but this is really bad!"

"I'll pick something up after I drop Nina home." Angel offered, "I'm buying!"

"Ladies and Gentleman, hell just froze over!" Gunn joked from where he was leaning against a tree.

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"Spike!" Fred called after the vampire who had reappeared and dragged him into her office. "Dawn's here, but Buffy hasn't told her yet. So could you just stay here?"

"Dawn? Nibblet's here?"

"Yea, but Buffy wants to tell her, OK."

"Fine. So what have you been up to today? Running about with Peaches? Saving the day? I swear, someone should get him a superman cloak- he'd like that."

Fred choose to ignore the last comment. "Last night Angel killed a werewolf."

"Really? A werewolf? I had a run-in with a werewolf once myself. Brutal it was. Fought for hours. Nearly lost my..."

"Angel killed it with a pen."

"Oh"

"Anyway, it had bitten a girl and this group of people tried to eat her but she's OK and she'll be coming to Wolfram and Hart's every full moon."

"Goody."

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"Dawn, there's something I need to tell you." Buffy had finished greeting her sister and was going to tell her about Spike. "I don't really know how to say this but Spikes alive, well not alive exactly, but he's undead. The amulet brought him back."

"Hey Nibblet."

Dawn whipped round. Spike was standing in the doorway looking the same as always.

"Spike? How..."

"It's me, luv."

She walked toward the vampire and tried to hug him, but fell straight through him.

"That's the downside. The bloody powers didn't bring me back fully. I'm a wee little ghostie."

"How?"

"Honestly, we don't know, pet. An' we don't know why either. Fred's looking into it...or she's supposed to be."

"I'm so glad you're not totally dead!"

"Me too, Nibblet, me too."

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"Dawn!" Felicity called her friend. "Dawn? Are you OK?"

"He's back. He's really back."

"Who?"

"I can't believe he's back."

"Who's back, Dawn?"

"Spike."

"What? But he died in the battle with the first."

"They brought him back. The powers that be brought him back. He works for Angel now."

"How? When? Why?"

"Don't know, at the beginning of September and we don't know. I spoke to him last night. It's really him- only he's kinda incorporeal."

"What?" Flick couldn't stop a laugh. "I didn't know him that well, but from what you've told me he'll be loving that, and I bet he's thrilled to be working for his sire!"

Dawn grinned, giving some life to her shocked face. "Let's just say, he wasn't best pleased. Everyone else is fine. No apocalypses, business as usual."

"Aren't apocalypses business as usual?"

"Yes...But that's by our standards- for normal people it's business as usual."

"I hate to break it to you, but normal people wouldn't class the odd nest of vampires or a demonic lair business as usual."

"Oh shut up! Anyway it wasn't vampires or demons. It was a new werewolf that these people wanted to eat for dinner- I'll tell you about it over breakfast."

"Oh great. Ruin my appetite completely why don't you. Ron manages to do that well enough on his own talking about giant snake guts and grimy socks."

"Huh?"

"Don't ask. Believe me you don't wanna know!"

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Thanks for reading. The Scooby's will come eventually, but not yet. Please review. I like reviews! Who do you want to be the other slayer? Pref. someone from 'the list', but it can be anyone really.

Kiara x x x


	9. Letters

This chapter is going to be quite short and is just here to sort out what the characters are feeling.

Thanks to all the reviewers: loveorthelackthereof, Angela, Blondi Gurl and matt. Especially to matt who's been reviewing nearly every chappy.

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**CHAPTER 9- LETTERS  
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Dear Father, Draco wrote

I hope all is well. I spoke with Peter and he assured me that all our plans for the future are running on track and should begin soon.

We have another new DADA professor. A filthy, mudblood yank. He doesn't know anything about the subject. He practically let one of the exchange students take the class. He seems to know her. She's another yank, but she is, although I hate to admit it, a powerful witch.

She keeps a shield up without depleting any of her powers and claims that it is a Wicca protection spell. I thought Wicca was nonsense, but this shield reflected one of my spells without any problems. She also has quite extensive knowledge of the dark arts. She knew all about demons and vampires and how to kill them. Then she claimed to live in Sunnydale where the hellmouth was and said that she had been taught Wicca by another Wicca who had nearly taken over the world.

I did some research and there is a chance that she isn't lying about everything. There were references in diary-type-books of a Wicca who nearly took over the world, but these may be make believe as they also mentioned the slayer-myth. This all did take place on the hellmouth, so she's done her homework if she is lying.

I do know one thing though, and that is that she possesses great power. After witnessing it first hand, I read her and I could feel the power rolling off her. I worry about this Father, as she is in Gryffindor and acquainted with Potter. She would make a powerful asset to our side, but she wouldn't come willingly, this much I know for certain.

I await your response,

Draco.

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Draco,

We are ready to begin the plan when you are. Keep an eye on the girl. If she's as powerful as you say, then we will want her on our side. It will impress the master if you are the one to bring her to us.

Yours, Lucius Malfoy

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Hey Buffy;

You said you liked the chocolate frogs last time; Tara should be bringing some, as long as she doesn't eat them :-).

As for the second Hogwarts slayer update, I've narrowed it down quite a lot. The rather long short list was: Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zambini, Cho Chang, Susan Bones, Millicent Bulstrode, Luna Lovegood, Rose Zellar, Emily Flinch- Fletchedy, Katie Bell, Jenny Frost and the Patil twins.

Susan and Jenny are out. The other day Susan was trying to open a jar of sweets, couldn't do it so gave it to Jenny to try and neither of them managed it. Cho Chang's a no-go; she's not tough enough, broke her arm in quidditch. There's no way in hell Parkinson's a slayer. The other day, she called me a mudblood, I innocently said that I couldn't hear her over the wheezing, she got a bit angry and I may have dropped a few comments on the doggishness of her looks- it was meant as a compliment...she really looks like a steamroller ran over her face but hey, that would be mean! Anyway she tried to punch me and she throws a punch like a pansy (pun intended) totally missed the general area surrounding my head. That leaves eight possibilities, or six not counting the Patil's.

Could you ask Angel to get Wolfram and Hart to check out the probability of twins being slayers, please? I really don't think that it could be one of them as only two slayers came up at Hogwarts and Ginny's one of them, but I want to check it out to be on the safe side.

Everything's OK here. No big bads are attacking at the moment. It's all quite quiet for what I'm used too. The only problem is that what I'm used to is higher than what's normal at Hogwarts.

On our first few weeks here we only found the occasional demon or maybe a nest of vamps. Now we're lucky if a nest and a clan of vamps and demons don't maul us every night.

It's not safe for the girls to go too deep in on their own. The students normally serve detention around the edge of the forest, but it's not safe for them to be there at all. One of us has to accompany the students whenever they need to go into the forest- it's such a pain but nothing's attacked us that close to the school yet.

What worries me is why they're there. What are they gathering for? I've tried to do some research on my laptop, but not many wizards know how to use one so that's not much good. Giles and I have also been looking through the books in library, but they don't have original translations, they only have the edited English versions. I might visit W & H to see if we can find anything there (You might want to warn Angel that I'm planning on taking over his books for a bit!).

How are you? No apocalypses yet? Willow wrote and said that she'd nearly finished her recovery process. Does that mean she'll be able to do magic like she used to? Has Fred found anything out about Spike yet? Could you feed Tara when she lands? She'll wait for a reply for me. Hint! Hint!

Lots of Luv,

Dawn x x x

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Dear Dawn;

Everything's good in LA. There's hardly any thing for me to kill but I think that's because all the new slayers go out earlier than me and leave nothing for me to pummel.

Willow has nearly finished her recovery, but she'll never be able to do magic like she used to. Once you've lost control once, it's easy to lose it again- kinda like that thing with Spike after I came back.

Speaking of Spike, Fred did find a way to make him corporeal again, but a demon threatened to kill her if Spike went through with it. Needless to say he didn't do it, but it was a one shot thing so Fred's searching for another way to bring him back. The good news is that he can touch things if he really wants to now.

Sounds like you're getting along OK with the slayer thing. Remember it doesn't necessarily have to be one of those eight or six or whatever. Angel's checking out the twin thing now.

Why don't the students just NOT GO INTO THE FOREST? You don't want to put them in any unnecessary danger. I don't want you putting yourself in any danger either. I know you're a witch and you can take care of yourself, but promise me that you won't take any chances. From what Giles said, you're doing a great job! But please be careful.

Love Always,

Buffy

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To Mum, Dad, Robbie and Susan,

How are you? We're all fine. I'm glad Dawn let us enrol in Hogwarts. I feel safer knowing that I have a wand and all the magical knowledge to back me up if my strength fails. Also I'll get my O.W.L's and N.E.W.T's which is a definite plus.

We're all coming on great with the training- Dawn isn't letting us go solo at the moment though, because vampires and demons are gathering. There was a reason that I'm writing this letter. We got some more details about the latest big bad and, please don't panic, but it's Voldemort.

He's not really any more dangerous than the first and we've got magical back up this time. I'll be OK.

Love you all, Felicity. x x x

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Dearest Flick,

We've talked about it, and we want you to come home. I know that this is your destiny, but what we're not saying that you should give it up completely. We think that if you come home for a year or two until this fight with he-who-must-not-be-named is over, you'd be a lot safer.

Please think about it Felicity. It's not safe in England at the moment. Especially if you're going to be on the front lines with five other schoolgirls, because that's all you are, girls. Please, come home,

All our Love, Mum and Dad.

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Mum and Dad,

I'm staying. Please understand that this is something I have to do.

Flick.

P.S: This IS my destiny, I can't step back from it. People are counting on us. We may be 'girls' but we have so much power and Voldemort doesn't expect that. We will win.

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Dear Flick,

We will stand by you, darling. We love you,

Mum and Dad

P.S: Don't say his name.

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It's just a name! Names are power and by refusing to say the name we're giving him power. Love ya,

Flick.

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To Mum,

I'm fine and I'm safe. See, I told you being a slayer wouldn't get me killed in a month. It's helping the whole family. Ron asked for some training in physical training so now Dawn's teaching him as well (and Harry and Hermione.). I sparred with him once, but I dislocated his shoulder- but don't worry, Madam Pompfrey fixed it. Dawn said it was just because I'm used to sparring with the other slayers or her so I don't really know my own strength. I'm being more careful now.

Fred and George are doing really well, aren't they? They sent me a muggle dress to wear for the muggle themed dance we're having next week. It's going to be such fun, or that's what Dawn and Flick said. There's going to be something called karaoke which is like a sing a long to muggle music and anyone who can get an outfit (which isn't that many people, actually) are dressing up as muggles. The best bit is that it's optional, so hardly any of the Slytherin's are coming. The prefects are being forced to come for the first half hour and after that, they're leaving.

I've got to go in a minute. It's my night to make sure the students serving detention in the forest don't get attacked or anything. It's not that bad. No-ones been attacked yet, but better safe than sorry as the vampires are coming closer to the school. Don't worry, Mum, we can handle it. Detention Patrol is the only time I'm on my own, and then I hover out of sight on my broom and call for backup if anyone is attacked. Harry's letting me borrow Hedwig to send this to you so you should actually get it in the next couple of days!

Love ya'

Ginny.

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Dear Sirius,

I almost feel guilty saying this, but his is one of my best years at Hogwarts so far. Dawn and the slayers are taking care of the evil things lurking about the school. All I have to worry about is my battle with Voldemort, and I've been worrying about that since my first year.

Ginny's a great slayer. They said that the demonic population in the forest had gone up a lot- but she's still holding her own. I was watching them patrol through a portal with Dawn, and it was amazing. Ginny took on two vampires at once without breaking a sweat and then moved onto some more. Anyway, I asked Dawn to give me some training in hand to hand. She said I was a natural and really dedicated.

And I am. Well, it may have something more to do with the instructor (Dawn) than the actual fighting, but it may come in useful. There's a muggle themed dance next Friday, and I was thinking of asking Dawn if she wanted to go with me. What do you think? I don't have anything to wear, but I could wear robes.

I really like her. I think she likes me, Ron and Hermione both think I should ask her. I know we'd have a great time; we've got a lot in common and we talk about everything. Her parents are dead too, and she can see the thestrals more clearly than me if you get what I mean. We've both seen way too much evil and she totally understands about you. I think that you'd like her, she's really nice.

I told you her sister was the original slayer of this generation, but I haven't met her yet. She did send me a letter, which was kinda weird cause we've never spoken. She said that Felicity (Dawn's best friend) had told her about me and that if I ever hurt Dawn, she'd rip off my arms and beat me to death with them. I met her 'surrogate father' though. He teaches DADA and is one of the best teachers we've had for it so far. He seems nice, and not as over protective as Buffy. Her real dad deserted them and when Dawn and Buffy's mum died, he left Buffy and her friends to look after Dawn. Professor Giles helped Buffy out along with some of Buffy's friends: two Wicca's, a carpenter, a vampire with a soul and an ex-demon.

Her family sound as dysfunctional as ours, don't you think?

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Harry stopped writing and read the last sentence again. It was a lie. He didn't have a family and Sirius wouldn't answer any of his questions. Harry had been writing to Sirius every so often since he had died. It kept him alive inside his heart and he imagined his Godfather reading them in heaven. He sighed as he signed his name at the bottom of the page.

I miss you so much. I wish you didn't have to die. Love Harry.

Harry placed the letter in the fireplace, as he always did, and watched the paper turn black and catch alight.

When the letter had turned to ashes he turned back to the table to collect up his writing equipment and go upstairs. The window blew shut and Harry gasped in surprise.

Folded on the table, next to his quill, was a deep navy muggle shirt and lying on top of it was a blood red rose. There was no one else in the common room, so who could have left the shirt and rose. When Harry went closer look to the table, he saw a piece of parchment, folded and burnt at the edges. He unfolded the parchment and nearly dropped it in surprise. It was a copy of the letter he had just burnt.

Harry knew that Sirius was the one. He smiled. Harry knew that it was his Godfather, he could feel it and he knew that wherever he was, there'd be someone looking out for him. Sirius had given his answer to Harry's question.

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This Chapter is for Vicky. She's with the angels now.


	10. Metaphorical Dancing

Sorry about the lack of updates; long story short, I now have a new hard drive; bad news is that I lost all the chapters I'd already written so now I have to re-write them. I'm not entirely happy with this chap, but I wanted to get something done. Advice to readers: Always back up your work!

Thanks to all the reviewers: sofi, water naiad 13, matt, critiker, Meg cat 06, blondi gurl and tiger fan fry.

Expect the Scooby's in chapter 13 or 14, I think.

To answer the point about Willow being good: I'm screwing with the timeline. Also she never finished her rehab and I figured that like most addictions you're never cured, just in remission or whatever.

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**CHAPTER 10- METAPHORICAL DANCING  
**  
"Bye Giles!" Dawn hugged her 'adopted father'. "Come back soon, oh, and please no more slayers!"

"Right; no more slayers. Just several books that, I must say, look rather interesting!"

"Uh-huh, right. Looking forward to it. Say hi to Buffy for me if you see her."

"Of course. I'll be back in a few days, take care." And with that Giles stepped into the fireplace and vanished in a swirl of green flames leaving Dawn alone in his room.

"Right. Next thing on to do list: patrolling." She muttered making her way to the room of requirement where she would meet the girls, planning as she walked.

'Hagrid mentioned something killing forest creatures the other day. In the south side, I think it was...' She was so lost in her thoughts that she wasn't looking where she was going and bumped into Harry.

"Sorry, Dawn."

"No, my fault. I was totally spacing!" Dawn grinned as Harry picked his glasses off the floor and rubbed them in a very Giles-y way.

"Err, is this yours?" Harry was holding out a small dagger with a golden handle.

"Yup, thanks."

"One question, do you always carry a weapon around?"

"It's kind of a safety blanket slash force of habit thing."

"Oh, OK...Hey Dawn, I was wondering if you'd like to-"

"Ohmigosh! I'm gonna be late for training! See you later Harry!" With that she ran off leaving a rather startled Harry in her wake.

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The slayers hadn't returned from their patrolling session. The only people left in the common room were Semus and Dean and Ron and Harry.

Ever since Ginny had started patrolling, Ron had refused to go to bed until his little sister got back. He often used this opportunity to finish the homework that he hadn't done. Most nights he was joined by Harry and they found themselves talking and not really doing much work.

Semus and Dean were finishing off a game of wizarding chess, but they too retired to bed before the slayers got back. Not long after they went to bed, Flick, Ginny and Skye entered the common room giggling.

"Hi guys!" Harry acknowledged. "How'd it go?"

This made the slayers giggle more, but Flick managed to talk. "We fought a pack of demons."

"Are you OK?" Ron asked his little sister, concerned.

"Oh, we're fine."

"Where's Dawn?" Harry asked and was answered by another round of laughter.

"Probably still yelling at Jaden!"

"Why is she yelling at Jade?"

"Well, she got a bit...over zealous fighting the demon and decapitated it even though Dawn said whatever you do, don't chop their heads off. Anyway, turns out that you really, really shouldn't behead them because you get majorly slimed. And Dawn was in the line of fire." Flick collapsed into laughter again as the portrait hole flew open.

The others surged forward to greet Dawn, who clambered in through the portrait hole, slipping slightly. She glared at everyone.

"Yeah, yeah, hi. Shower. Now. And I don't want to talk to anybody until after." Harry opened his mouth; Dawn glared him into silence, holding up a hand. "Uh uh. Later." Harry shut his mouth with a snap. "Good."

The green, slimy woman stalked off, leaving two open mouthed boys and three slayers rolling about in laughter.

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As Harry walked into the room of requirement, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Dawn had her back to Harry and was bending over doing her warm up stretches. After a moment, he cleared his throat prompting Dawn to turn around.

"Hi Harry! Where are Ron and Hermione?" She said peeling her sweat shirt over her head to reveal a navy blue sports bra. Harry forced his eyes up to her face and tried to ignore all the blood in his body rushing to one place, and it isn't his head. The three had been taking self defence lessons from Dawn since the beginning of term. Hermione had been told that living on a hellmouth had forced Dawn into learning martial arts and that Harry thought it would be useful for him too (she still didn't know about the slaying).

"Err. They, urg, they've got a prefects meeting, they said to tell you they couldn't make it."

"Oh, OK; just us then. Are you ready for me to kick your ass?" Dawn replied, amused and pleased by Harry's reaction.

Harry sighed. "You know, you could let me win one of these days."

"Now why would I want to do that? Besides I wouldn't want you to get over confident and think you can beat me."

"Think of it more as a confidence boost." Harry said with a smirk.

'Damn, he's hot!' "How would it boost your confidence to know that I let you beat me?" Dawn countered.

"I, well, it." He sighed. "I guess I'm hitting the mats then."

"Damn straight!"

Harry laughed. 'Shall I ask her to the dance now?' He summoned all his courage. "Dawn, there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What?"

"Well, I was wondering if, if, if you'd consider telling Hermione about the slayer thing." He chickened out.

"Harry we've been over this."

"I know, but you know that she'll find out eventually. She's not stupid."

"I never said she was, but the less people that know the better."

"She could be a big help, researching and stuff. Please, Dawn."

'Damn those puppy dog eyes!' Dawn sighed. "OK. But I want it to go on record that it's all your idea."

"Fine, thanks!" The next thing Harry knew, he was standing with his arms around Dawn. He released her and muttered an apology.

"We can tell her tonight, after dinner. OK, adopt a defensive stance..."

The next hour was spent training. Harry was surprised at how good of a teacher Dawn was. She would always make sure his footing was right and always correct his arms. Of course she always won; but he wasn't hitting the mat too much- mainly various headlocks and such.

"OK. That was good, but you need to think less. Thinking is good, but reacting is better. It only takes one blow to kill you. If you take the time to think, you're dead. Got that? OK; try again and this time, trust your instincts."

Harry ran at Dawn for about the fiftieth time that night. And once again Dawn tossed him over her shoulder and he fell on the mat. She straddled his waist and pushed the tip of a stake up to his neck.

"You're dead." Was all she said.

"Sorry. I guess I forgot to react." Harry looked up at Dawn who was still sitting over him.

Dawn couldn't tear her eyes away. She leaned forward and gave Harry a lingering kiss on his lips.

"You need to keep your centre of balance." Dawn said jumping up and offering a helping hand to Harry, who was still rather dazed.

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"Hi Hermione. Can we talk after dinner in the room of requirement?"

"Sure, what about?"

"It's kind of a secret. I'll tell you tonight."

"OK. So how did training with Harry go? What happened?" Hermione questioned seeing her friends blush.

"I might have kissed him."

Hermione cocked one eyebrow. "Might have?"

"OK, OK, I did kiss him."

"Why? What did he say?"

"I don't know why. We were getting along great then I ruined it. I didn't exactly give him the chance to say anything."

"You must know that he likes you. Any idiot can see that."

"I don't know, maybe. Anyway, you can't talk! What about you and Ron?"

"It's strictly platonic."

"If you say so. Wow! Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Dawn gestured to Ron who was approaching the pair from across the hall.

"Hi Hermione. Hi Dawn. Are you ready Herms?"

"Sure, I told Madam Pince we'd be there about now."

"OHH, do you too have a study date? Well I'd better leave you too it. Bye Ron, See ya _Herms_!" With that she was gone, exiting the hall with a massive grin on her face.

"What was all of that about?" Ron asked.

"I, err, It's not important. Shall we go?"

The sun was setting as the pair sat in the library and Ron couldn't stop himself thinking how pretty the sun made Hermione's hair look. It made it shimmer and look really golden. Hermione looked up, catching his eye and smiled. Ron returned the smile before looking back down at his work, making Hermione's heart flutter.

A couple of minutes later, Ron was in one of his favourite day dreams. Over the last 6 months he had found his dreams involving Hermione more and more and they were also becoming more erotic. In this one Hermione was wearing a see through, short dress that left nothing to the imagination.

"Ron? Ron?" Hermione brought him back to reality. "You've been staring into space for over 10 minutes. Come on, we've got to get to dinner."

Ron followed the object of his affections out the library, trying to ignore the way his stomach was doing back flips and the numbness in his legs.

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After dinner, Hermione entered the room of requirement to find a rather large group of people waiting for her. There was Dawn, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Flick and Robin all seated on various bean bags and chairs. They all looked up as she entered and Dawn was the first to speak.

"Hi Hermione. Have a seat; Skye's just gone to fetch Jade."

"Jade as in Jaden from Slytherin? Why does she need to be here?"

"It involves all of us."

"Do you know what all this is about?" Hermione asked Ron and Harry.

They looked at each other guiltily as Skye and Jade entered the room.

"Now will you tell me what's going on?"

"Hermione, have you ever heard of the legend of the vampire slayer?"

"Yes; one girl in each generation with the strength and skill to fight the vampires."

"Well, it's not a legend. It's real. And a few months ago the rules were changed so that more than one girl could be the slayer."

"Are you saying that you're all slayers?"

"No. I'm saying that Flick, Skye, Jade, Robin and Ginny are slayers. I'm a watcher. That's someone who-"

"I know what a watcher is. You're joking right? This is all a big joke. It has to be, it's impossible. You two knew about this? Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry and Ron cringed under their friends hurt anger. Hermione looked around. Everyone looked uncomfortable.

"Hermione, I'm sorry we didn't tell you." Dawn said. "We're not supposed to tell anyone except the families of the slayers. It's a safety precaution."

"You'd think I'd tell everyone?" Hermione looked hurt.

"Not intentionally, but you could have been forced to. Also it's safer for you not to know. You're less likely to get kidnapped or used for bait."

"We're sorry Herms." Ron put on his best puppy dog face.

Hermione sighed. How could anyone stay mad at that face? "It's OK. So how is there more than one slayer?"

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"Not exactly subtle, are they?"

"It's not one of their strong points."

Flick, Ron and Hermione had all just left the common room saying that they were all tired. When Dawn and Harry made to go to bed also, their friends very pointedly told them to stay and talk or 'whatever'.

They sat in silence for a while, but then they both spoke at once.

"Dawn, I..." "I'm sorry."

This prompted a bit of nervous laughter from the pair.

"What are you sorry for?" Harry asked.

"For that kiss in training. I shouldn't have."

"Why not?"

"Well, I mean it wasn't fair on you. I just did what I wanted to but that's not the point. I don't want it to ruin our friendship or-"

Harry silenced her with a chaste kiss to the lips. "I liked it."

"Me too. Wait, what were you going to say?"

"Dawn, will you to the dance with me."

"I'd love to."

"Thank Merlin." Harry muttered before going into another, much deeper kiss.

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Yay! They finally got together. Might take a while to update because I've got stupid AS levels. Please Review!


	11. Dancing

Thanks to all the reviewers: Nicola Afyon, Blondi Gurl, matt and even Joe Hundredaire.

DON'T BLAME ME FOR WRONG LYRICS! They were copied straight off the internet!

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CHAPTER 11- DANCING

Later that evening, Harry and Dawn returned to their rooms to find that they each had a welcoming committee. Harry walked in on a game of exploding snap between his roommates and they barely let him enter the room before pounding him with questions.

"Well?"

"Did you ask her?"

"What did she say?"

"Yes and yes." Harry gave a silly grin to his roommates. "She said yes!"

"Well duh!"

"We said she would."

"It was obvious!"

"Any idiot could see it... even Ron picked up on it!"

"Hey!" Ron was indignant.

"Sorry mate."

"So then what happened?" Semus asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Harry, Harry, Harry. You guys were down there for ages." Semus said. "You don't honestly think we believed you just talked, did you?"

Harry blushed a bright red. "We just kissed." He mumbled.

"Never knew you had it in you." Dean joked. "Thought you might never get a date like Semus here!"

"Ha, ha. Remind me again, Dean. Who are you taking to the dance?" Semus retaliated.

Dean mumbled something inaudibly.

"What was that?"

"Ginny." Dean waited for the outburst from Ron, and it came.

"Ginny? My sister? I'll bloody kill you."

"Ron," Harry reasoned, "don't you think Ginny can look after herself?"

A sadistic grin slid across Ron's face. "Fine. But if you hurt her and she doesn't kill you for it, I will!"

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Dawn's roommates were also waiting to interrogate her. When she entered the dorm, Lavender stopped braiding Parvati's hair and Hermione looked up from the book she was reading. What surprised her most was that Flick, Skye and Ginny were also sitting on the floor of the dorm room.

"When did you get back?"

"A while ago. No problems." Skye assured, not wanting to make Lavender or Parvati suspicious.

"We saw you in the common room." Flick smirked.

"We would've said hi, but you were otherwise engaged!" Ginny grinned at the shade of crimson that Dawn was going.

"Spill." Flick instructed.

"Yeah we want to know everything!" Lavender said.

"Why?" Neither Lavender nor Parvati had shown much interest in Dawn's life before now.

It was Parvati who answered Dawns question. "Duh! Harry's a celebrity."

"This is big gossip!" Lavender continued.

"They're not at the deepest end of the pool, are they?" Hermione said in a low voice so that the two couldn't overhear.

"He did ask you to the dance, didn't he?"

"Yup."

"Finally! We were wondering if he'd ever ask!"

"I was wondering the same about you and Ron." Now it was Hermione's turn to blush.

"It's obvious he likes you."

"We're just friends...nothing more."

"If you say so... but somehow we're going to get the two of you together by the end of the dance."

"Who's everyone else going with?" Hermione asked, trying to distract the attention from herself. It worked.

"I'm going with Dean. We've been going out since the summer, but Ron's not making things easy for us."

"Ahh, I've been there." Dawn said with a grimace.

"You have an older brother?"

"Well, there's Spike and Xander; but Buffy was the worst. She threatened all my dates with death and/or dismemberment. It wasn't funny! Ruined a lot of potential relationships, all because of one little mistake that wasn't really my fault."

"A little mistake? What kind of mistake?" Lavender asked. They were aware of Dawn growing up on a hellmouth and had gotten used to her little anecdotes.

"My first kiss. Me and my friend, Janice, snuck out on Halloween to meet these guys. They took us to the make out point of Sunnydale and, long story short, they were vampires. Buffy and co. turned up and saved our asses and I staked my date."

Lavender blinked. "That's a _little_ mistake?"

"Yup. A big mistake would be summoning a demon so that I nearly get made a queen of the underworld or accidentally making a wish to a vengeance demon or..." She saw the looks that she was getting from several of the people in the room. "What?"

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"Robin?"

"Hi Neville. What do you want?"

""Wouldyougotothedancewithme?"

"Pardon?"

"Would you go to the dance with me? If you're already going that's OK, I just thought..."

"I'd love to go with you!" The French slayer said, pleased that someone had asked her.

"Really? Great! I'll meet you outside your common room, if that's OK"

"That's fine, see you tomorrow."

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"How much bloody longer will it take?"

Ron and Harry were waiting in the common room for their dates for the dance. Ron was going with Hermione. Dawn had suggested that since neither of them have dates they should go together.

"Probably a lot longer." Dean called from across the room. "Ginny and Flick are getting ready with them.

Ron fiddled with the buttons on his emerald green shirt that he had borrowed off Dean. He'd never admit it, but muggle dress sense wasn't that bad! It wasn't that long before the girls arrived, all dressed it suitable muggle attire.

Flick was wearing tight navy jeans with a silver chain belt around her hips. She teamed them with a silky purple top that shimmered in the light. Although quite plain from the front, it dipped at the back showing off 2/3 of her slender figure. She had curled her hair and put glitter in it and let it hang loose.

Ginny was wearing a typical little black dress. It reached half way down her thigh and was held up by two thin straps. Her hair was split in two. The bottom half hung down her back, whilst the other half had been arranged on top in a way that made her look like the young woman she was becoming. A pair of black sandals and a touch of make up completed the look.

Dawn was wearing the baby blue dress that Buffy had got her for her birthday. She teamed it with the necklace that Harry got her and a pair of sandals. She had used a spell to straighten her hair so that it hung exactly the way she wanted it to.

Hermione was wearing (after much persuasion) Dawn's leather trousers and a halter top with an intricate pattern on the front that was a slightly lighter shade to Ron's shirt. Her hair was the same as it was for the Yule Ball during the Triwizard tournament and she was wearing smoky eye make-up that highlighted her features.

Ron's reaction summed up what all the boys were feeling. "Bloody Hell!"

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As the group entered the hall, a magical banner flashed above their heads welcoming them to the dance. Flick went off to find her date, a Ravenclaw named Alexei and Ginny and Dean went over to the buffet. Dawn pulled a protesting Harry onto the dance floor where cheesy eighties music was playing leaving Ron and Hermione standing silently in the entrance.

Finally Ron spoke: "Hey, Hermione, do you know how much a polar bear weighs?"

"Err, no, I don't."

"Me neither, but it breaks the ice!"

Hermione giggled a little, and then turned serious. "I'm glad we came."

"Me too. I'm just sorry that you couldn't go with someone you really wanted."

"Same for you... but thanks, anyway. You're a good friend." Hermione leaned forward and kissed Ron lightly on the cheek.

"It's my pleasure. How 'bout we check out the food?"

"Sure." Ron surprised and pleased Hermione by taking her hand and leading her over to the long tables set against one side of the hall.

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"They're not talking." Dawn was spying on her friends who still hadn't moved from the doorway.

"It's none of our business."

"She's smiling."

"It's none of our business." Harry repeated.

"Uh oh, smiles gone...looking serious."

"Dawn, It's none of our business."

"Ohmigod! She kissed him, she kissed him!"

"It's none of- What? Where?"

"I thought it was 'none of our business.'"

"It is now!"

"You're too late, anyway. They're over by the buffet. Ow!" Dawn winced as Harry stepped on her foot.

"Sorry. I warned you that I was a bad dancer."

"Don't worry about it. Here," a slower song came on; "put your hands on my waist. Now just move to the music."

Dawn placed her hands around Harry's neck, pulling him closer to her. By the end of the song, it would've taken a crowbar to separate them, much to the amusement of several of the witches and wizards dancing around them in the more traditional way of the school.

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At nine 'o' clock, the first, second and third years went back to their dorms, along with the Slytherin prefects who had been forced to come for that long to 'set an example'. A few younger Slytherin's had shown up, even a couple of fourth years, but they were dragged out, literally, by their prefects.

Not long after they left, Skye and Flick ran over to Dawn with big smiles on their faces. They whispered something in her ear to which she nodded also grinning.

"Cool; I'm in. How about Ginny and Robs?"

"Yea, they're doing it too."

With that the two slayers ran off and Dawn offered no further explanation until...

"Now we are going to continue the muggle festivities with karaoke! First up are Ginny, Skylar, Robinette, Felicity and Dawn!"

Applause greeted them as they climbed onto the stage and began to sing.

Dawn started the song. Harry was surprised at how strong her voice was.

"_Now there was a time when they used to say That behind every - "great man. There had to be a - great woman." _

Flick joined in, shooting a big smile at her watcher. _"But in these times of change you know that it's no longer true. So we're comin' out of the kitchen 'Cause there's something we forgot to say to you"_

They all joined in for the chorus. Ron, and a lot of the students were surprised as they heard Ginny's voice around them sounding clear and confident.

"_Sisters are doin' it for themselves. Standin' on their own two feet. And ringin' on their own bells. Sisters are doin' it for themselves."_

"Now this is a song to celebrate the conscious liberation of the female state! Mothers - daughters and their daughters too. Woman to woman we're singin' with you. The "inferior sex" got a new exterior we got doctors, lawyers, politicians too. Everybody - take a look around. Can you see - can you see - can you see there's a woman right next to you."

"Sisters are doin' it for themselves. Standin' on their own two feet. And ringin' on their own bells. Sisters are doin' it for themselves."

"Now we ain't makin' stories And we ain't layin' plans 'Cause a man still loves a woman And a woman still loves a man. Sisters are doin' it for themselves."

_  
"Now there was a time when they used to say that behind every great man. There had to be a great woman. But in these times of change you know that it's no longer true. So we're comin' out of the kitchen 'Cause there's something we forgot to say to you."_

"Sisters are doin' it for themselves. Standin' on their own two feet. And ringin' on their own bells. Sisters are doin' it for themselves. Sisters are doin' it for themselves."

The girls went back to their respective partners. Harry surprised Dawn with a quick kiss and Hermione gave her a big hug.

"You were great!"

"Thanks, Hermione! What do you say to you, me and the guys going up there."

"Sure!"

"No way!" "Absolutely not!"

"Aww, come on guys!" Dawn pouted.

"No! Ixnay, notta, nein, no way, not a chance, nyet, defiantly not!" Ron's voice replied. "I ain't bloody doing it!"

"I can't sing." Harry said.

"You said you couldn't dance, and you could."

"Yeah, we all saw you two!" Ron commented slyly.

"Shut up Ron! We're doing this, it'll be fun!" Hermione put her hands on Ron's shoulders, pushing herself against him.

"OK Hermione." He would have agreed to anything she said.

"Come on Harry," Dawn murmured seductively, pausing to nibble on his ear lobe; "Ron's doing it."

"Urg, OK."

"Great! Come on Hermione, let's go choose a song." They went off leaving the two aroused boys behind them.

"Bloody women!"

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Robin was having the time of her life. Neville was actually a pretty good dancer and when he wasn't nervous was good fun to talk to. The night was passing too quickly for her liking.

Skye wasn't having such a good time. Her date was NOT a good dancer and kept on disappearing. So she borrowed Neville for a dance.

Robin stood by the punch bowl watching Neville twirl Skye around the dance floor.

"So, are you really here with that fat idiot?" Robin looked round at the person who had asked the question. She recognised him as Scott; a Ravenclaw a year older than her.

"Who?"

"That Gryffindor, Neville or something."

"Yes I'm his date."

"Why? You could do so much better."

"Like you?"

"Yeah babe." He grabbed her hand and started pulling her onto the dance floor despite her protests.

"I said I don't want to dance with you! Let go of me, or you'll regret it!" Robin wrenched her hand out of Andy's grasp and punched him in the face.

"I 'fink 'ou broke ma bose" He said, one hand gripping at his nose.

"I did warn you."

"Bitch!" Any hurried out the hall, no doubt to get his nose seen to. Robin turned back with a satisfied smile on her face, only for it to fade when she saw Dawn standing there looking stern.

"Was he bothering you?"

Robin looked down ashamed; they weren't meant to hit humans no matter what the provocation. "Yes. I kept telling him, but he wouldn't take no for an answer."

Dawn smiled. "Good shot!"

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It was Dawn and Harry who chose the song, but they chose it for Ron and Hermione; it suited them perfectly. Ron was worried about how he would sing a muggle song, but he found once he stepped on the stage he knew the words and the tune. Also he knew information such as it was from the film 'Grease' and that Hermione and Ron were going to sing the first verse, Dawn and Harry the second and they would all sing the choruses. The wonders of magic.

_"I got chills. They're multiplying'. And I'm losing' control. 'Cause the power you're supplying', It's electrifying!"_ Ron breathed a sigh of relief, his main bit was over.

_"You better shape up, 'cause I need a man and my heart is set on you. You better shape up; you better understand to my heart I must be true."_ 'Wow.' Ron thought. 'Hermione has a great voice.'

_"You're the one that I want. (you are the one I want), o,o, oo, honey. The one that I want. (you are the one I want), o,o,oo, honey. The one that I want (you are the one I want), o,o, ooooo The one I need. Oh, yes indeed."_

_"If you're filled with affection You're too shy to convey, Meditate in my direction. Feel your way."_ Dawn swayed with the music and pushed herself up against Harry as many of the other singers that evening had. It seemed the few professors that were still present were turning a blind eye to the displays.

Harry nervously began to sing, but he was surprisingly good. _"I better shape up, 'cause you need a man who can keep you satisfied. I better shape up if I'm gonna prove that your faith is justified."_

"Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure down deep inside."  
  
_"You're the one that I want. (you are the one I want), o, o, oo, honey. The one that I want. (you are the one I want), o,o,oo, honey. The one that I want (you are the one I want),o, o, oo The one I need. Oh, yes indeed. The one that I want!"_

They left the stage, each couple going in a different direction. Ron and Hermione went over to the chairs around the edge of the hall and Dawn and Harry went onto the balcony outside.

"This is so much fun! It's like Bronzing again!"

"Bronzing?"

"It was this club everyone went to in Sunnydale."

"You're not allowed to go to clubs until you're 18 in England."

"Really? That sucks! But I guess if you're at school all term and have other-"

Harry cut her off with a kiss. He slid his tongue over her lips and she opened her mouth in response. They only stopped when the need for oxygen forced them to. They were about to go in for another kiss when screams erupted from the main hall. Dawn rushed back inside and Harry followed close behind. They both stopped when they saw what was happening.

Students were frantically trying to get out the hall, but the main entrance was blocked off. An uncountable number of death eaters and vampires stood in the doorway, waiting for permission to attack from their leader. Voldemort had begun his attack on the school.

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Dum, dum, dum! Don't you love cliffies? Next chapter, character death, not sure who yet though... What is Hogwarts matron called? I'm having a mental block. Please Review. Pretty please with cherries on top! I write faster when I have reviews!


	12. Fighting For Your Life

Thanks to the reviewers: shdurrani, matt and VLD.  
  
Shdurrani: Thanks! But credit goes to matt for the Scrappy comment!  
  
VLD: Jaden not being at the dance is explained fully in the next couple of chapters, but it's basically because she's in Slytherin.  
  
I apologise in advance for this chapter. I'm not very good at writing fight scenes, :-(  
  
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CHAPTER 12- FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE  
  
Chaos reined in the Great Hall. Students frantically tried to push themselves back as far from the crowd blocking the exit, most of them ending up huddled in a corner.  
  
As yet none of the death eaters had moved. They were obviously waiting for some kind of signal from Voldermort. And although the vampires were practically quivering at the smell of so much powerful blood, they had also not attacked.  
  
Dawn and Harry re-entered the main hall, the doors slammed shut behind them. All around the hall windows were closing themselves making sure that no-one could get in...or out.  
  
Voldermort seemed to enjoy the fear he was causing. He was in no hurry to attack when he could cause so much confusion by just standing in the doorway. He noticed a group of children gathering near the centre of the room.  
  
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"Dawn!"  
  
Dawn heard her name in an urgent whisper and saw Flick, Skye, Robin and Ginny along with Ron, Hermione, Dean, Neville and a girl she didn't recognise.  
  
"Are you all OK? Are you ready?" Four anxious nods answered her. "Don't worry, you're all trained and we've faced worse, right Flick?"  
  
"Yeah." But Flick sounded anything but certain.  
  
Some of the group looked confused at what the 'exchange students' were saying. They looked even more confused when Dawn waved her hand and suddenly they were all dressed in muggle clothes- most of them wore tracksuits of some sort, but Dawn wore her typical Sunnyhell leather trousers.  
  
It added to their scared bewilderment when Dawn opened what could only be described as a green hole floating in midair. Dawn pulled out several differing kinds of weapons out of the hole- swords, axes and things the young wizards had never seen before.  
  
With another wave of her hand a green, shimmering shield sprung up in the corner where most of the students were cowering and one around each of the slayers. Dawn turned to the non-slayers in the group.  
  
"Get under the shield! Take as many weapons as you can hold and try to cover our backs." Harry looked about to protest. "This isn't your fight, GO!"  
  
They all including the girl Dawn didn't recognise, started gathering weapons in their arms. Hermione following Dawn's look explained the girl to her:  
  
"That's Luna; she fought with us last year."  
  
Dawn nodded as they left. This Luna was stronger than she looked; she had more weapons than anyone else without any difficulty.  
  
When her friends were safely under the shield, Dawn turned back to the slayers, muttering a spell that would give her slayer strength and speed.  
  
"What is he waiting for?" Robin asked fearfully.  
  
"He's just trying to scare everyone." Flick answered.  
  
"Are you sure you want this? You can walk away if you want to." Dawn said. The students had noticed the shield and were trying to get to it; Voldermort would give the word any moment now.  
  
"We're staying."  
  
"Good. Remember your training, usual teams. Try to get as many students to the shield as you can and if one of you is injured get to the shield. Good luck!"  
  
A death eater whispered something in Voldermort's ear and a cruel smile slid across his face. He pointed his wand at a young girl with long blond hair. "Avada Kedavra." A green light shot out the end and she fell to the floor.  
  
That appeared to be the signal that everyone was waiting for as the vampires sprang into action. Skye and Flick fought back to back and Ginny, Robin and Dawn fought in a triangle formation.  
  
Dawn tried to call Jaden using a technique she had discovered during training one day, but either it wasn't working for one reason or another, or Jade wasn't answering. Instead she sent one to Professor Dumbledore, requesting his help.  
  
The slayers and Dawn tried to keep protecting each others backs, but the sheer numbers of the vampires attacking soon separated them. Dawn looked over at Flick and Skye. Flick was doing well. She was the only slayer to have fought in a battle of this size before and it showed in her fighting method- kill fast and move on. Skye was faring quite well. After Flick, she had had the most training, and she was putting it to good use.  
  
On her side of the hall Robin and Ginny were also killing vampires. Ginny hadn't found out about her 'special talent' long ago, and had got off to a rocky start. But when she got into a routine she was doing well, Dawn thought that Ginny had the most natural talent for slaying, probably because she'd been experiencing evil ever since her first year at Hogwarts. Ginny was, pretty much, as good as Skye who had a couple months of extra training on the red head.  
  
Robin, however, wasn't a natural slayer. She lacked confidence and that affected her abilities, it took her nearly twice as long to stake or behead each vampire, but she still managed to hold her own and slayed a very respectably number of vampires.  
  
Dawn herself was finding things the easiest out of the group. Her spell put her on a par with her slayers and her experience made things easier for her. But she made sure to keep an eye on her slayers and on the death eaters that had yet to enter the battle.  
  
Dumbledore arrived about half an hour into the fight after Professor Flitwick and himself had broken through the charms and barriers preventing their entry. That levelled the playing field. The Hogwarts professors started throwing fire hexes at the vampires causing them to burn to ashes. One vampire even got a wand through the back of its heart from Professor McGonagall as it tried to sneak up on Ginny.  
  
Voldermort regained his advantage when the death eaters launched into the fight. They had a distinct advantage as evil people are really...well...evil, and they weren't afraid to use unforgivable curses.  
  
The minute Dumbledore had arrived, Voldermort left, escorted by some of his death eaters. At around the same time the vampires started to pull back.  
  
'Miss Summers.' Dawn heard a voice in her head.  
  
'Professor Dumbledore?'  
  
'Indeed. I'm sure you have noticed the vampires retreating, we have reason to believe that they are planning to attack one of the houses.'  
  
'Which one?' Although Dawn could hazard a pretty good guess.  
  
'Gryffindor. You should take your slayers to stop them.'  
  
'What about everyone here?'  
  
'Myself and the others professors shall remain, I'd be very grateful if you could leave Miss Reiner to assist us. And I think extreme circumstances warrant extreme measures, don't you?' With that, Dumbledore's voice vanished leaving Dawn to fight toward her slayers.  
  
"The vampires are going to attack Gryffindor." Dawn said when she had gathered all the slayers. "We're going after them, the professors can hold the fort here if one of us stays. Dumbledore asked you to stay, Skye."  
  
Dawn began to open a green portal that would lead the group directly to the Gryffindor common room. They all clambered through the small hole, except Skylar who had gone back to fighting a death eater who had lost their wand somewhere or other, and Dawn closed the portal.  
  
Thudding filled the room as several vampire pounded on the portrait hole. The group of slayers turned around to be greeted by the sight to the first three years to Gryffindor's standing in a shocked silence staring at the girls who had appeared out of nowhere. Dawn explained what was happening with her normal amount of tact:  
  
"The school is under attack. Go upstairs and whatever happens don't come down and then you might all be alive this time tomorrow."  
  
Several frightened students ran up the stairs and onto the upper landing as the portrait finally splintered open. Dawn quickly threw up a shield over the watching Gryffindor's before launching back into the fight.  
  
"Eight to one? I like those odds!"  
  
All the slayers and Dawn had minor cuts and bruises, and most had some more serious cuts, Ginny in particular was bleeding freely from the shoulder and this was making fighting difficult for her. She was relying on one handed movements with the short sword she was using, but was being pushed backwards by two vampires. She bumped back against a table and lifted her sword to block a blow, but the vampire knocked it out of her hands. Ginny tried to keep calm and remember her training, she smiled.  
  
Ginny broke the leg off table and slammed it through the vampire closest to her. She swung around and put it through the heart of the second vampire before throwing herself back into the foray, leaving the sword forgotten.  
  
Robin was having a similar success against the creatures she was fighting. She had opted for a longer sword than Ginny so could keep her distance a little more and swung her sword around decapitating anything that came within a 5ft radius. As Robin slashed rhythmically with her sword, she couldn't help but wonder where Jaden was. She knew that Dawn was worried about after voicing her thoughts to her that morning, even though the watcher didn't talk about it much.  
  
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FLASHBACK:  
  
"Hi Dawn, have you seen Jade?"  
  
"Not in a while, Robs. Why?"  
  
"She was supposed to meet me to do some training, but she didn't show."  
  
"Again?" Dawn said referring to the other times Jaden had blown off her friends for some reason or another.  
  
"Yea, the only time she sees us anymore is if she thinks she'll get to kill something."  
  
"I know." Dawn sighed.  
  
"Can we do something? Talk to her..."  
  
"And say what? When Giles gets back, I'll talk to him. He's had some experience with slay-happy slayers." Robin raised her eyebrows in question. "Faith." Dawn explained. "But I'm sure everything will work out."  
  
"Didn't Faith have to kill a man, torture people, go to prison and fight in an apocalypse before it got better for her?"  
  
"Amongst other things. But we know what we're dealing with now. I think Skye went to train with Ginny down behind Hagrid's hut."  
  
"I'll go with them then." Robin started to leave.  
  
"Oh, and Robin, don't worry about Jaden, she'll be OK." Dawn smiled reassuringly.  
  
Robin smiled back, closing the door behind her. Dawn sighed, her smile vanishing.  
  
"She'll be OK... I hope."  
  
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Robin heard another vampire head touch the floor before it turned to dust. Jaden was probably in the Great Hall or maybe she didn't even know what was happening. That was it. She wouldn't just not turn up, and she loved fighting. Robin turned her attention back to her opponents, kicking one across the room and decapitating another.  
  
Dawn was punching and kicking with strength to rival any slayers. She had to admit being a bit worried about the vast numbers of opponents, and she let out this worry in true Summers fashion; quips and insults.  
  
"Honey, being dead doesn't mean you have to stop caring what you look like." She said to a vampire who looked to have been about 25 when she died and, judging by her wardrobe, died in the early nineties.  
  
"Next please! Whoa! Haven't the evil undead ever heard of personal hygiene? Get a tic-tac, only 2 calories!" Dawn swung her axe around chopping off the head of the offending vamp.  
  
A vampire (female, late twenties) kicked her across the room. Dawn hit the wall shoulder first and cried out in pain.  
  
"Are you OK?" Flick called from across the room.  
  
"Just peachy!" Dawn scrambled up, kicking the vampire away from her. She punched the vampire in the face and raised her axe. The vampire tried to punch, but it was blocked by the watcher who started to bring her axe down.  
  
"Try again! Whoops, you can't, you're dead! Next!"  
  
A vampire came up to her. This one had a weapon, a short dagger with a near black blade. They fought for a bit neither gaining the upper hand, but the vampire managed to slash Dawn across her stomach.  
  
"Ouch! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to hit a lady?" She threw him across the room using magic and leapt over to his side holding a stake that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She picked the dazed vampire off the floor and glared at him.  
  
"Any last words?"  
  
"What are you?"  
  
"I thought we went over that; I'm a lady." She staked the vamp and jumped back to avoid being covered in dust.  
  
Felicity snorted at Dawn's last comment. "I hate to break it to ya luv, but you're no lady!"  
  
Dawn looked offended for a minute before shrugging her shoulders. She examined the new wound on her abdomen.  
  
"Why do the bad guys always go for my stomach? At this rate I'll never be able to wear a bikini!"  
  
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As the night wore on, it took longer and longer to kill each vampire. By three o' clock, the slayers were tiring, as were the vampires, so neither side was gaining an advantage. At about 3:30, Dawn noticed that the sun was rising. She broke away from the vampires she was fighting and then leapt over to the massive curtains that covered one of the windows in the Gryffindor common room.  
  
The curtains spilt open, bathing the room in early morning sunshine. The vampires withered in the light, bursting into flames and turning into pillars of dust. Two vampires escaped the light. The first jumped backwards, only to be staked by Ginny. The second span backwards into the shadows, grabbing Robin as he went.  
  
The vampire picked up the sword that Ginny had dropped earlier and held it to Robin's throat.  
  
"Well, well, well. Don't we have a situation?"  
  
Flick jumped forward. The vampire dug the blade into Robin's neck drawing blood. Flick froze at Robin's whimper.  
  
"Let her go."  
  
"Give me one reason why I should? You'll just kill me the minute I drop her."  
  
"We wont, you have our word."  
  
"Your word? What use is you word? You're lying."  
  
"No. We don't lie."  
  
"Oh, so you're honest. That makes me feel so much better. I believe it was Johnny Depp who said in one of his more recent films that it was the honest men you had to watch, because a dishonest man you could always trust to be dishonest, but you never know when an honest man will do something incredibly stupid."  
  
"We wont, if you kill her, then I swear to god, you will die."  
  
"Already dead, luv."  
  
The vampire slid the sword across Robin's neck. A shocked look appeared on her face as she collapsed down to the floor, Flick staked the vampire, who died wearing a satisfied smirk.  
  
Dawn checked Robin's pulse. "She's dead...We've got to get back to the hall. You." She pointed to a Gryffindor boy on the stairs. "Make sure she gets to the hospital wing. We've got to go."  
  
Flick could have sworn she saw her watchers eyes flash black as she turned around and was sure that her hair was ever so slightly darker than usual, but that was impossible, right?  
  
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Two slayers and their watcher returned to the great hall a little after dawn to see that there was still a fight taking place. All but four of the professors were fighting and there looked to be about 25 death eaters still conscious. The tired looking students under the shields protection were tending to fallen teachers and the victims of any curses that managed to get past Dawn's shield.  
  
The teachers and Skye who were still fighting were as tired and weary as those fighting in Gryffindor. They had all (except Professor Dumbledore) been hit by a curse at least once that night, some had yet to wake up. Before the slayers even entered the hall, they heard the sound of a killing curse being fired and turned to see who was on the receiving end.  
  
It was Skylar. Her shield flared up as the green curse hit her, but must have gotten through some how as she flew backwards into the wall and fell to the ground in a lifeless heap.  
  
Time seemed to freeze as everyone realised what had happened. That is for everyone except for Dawn.  
  
"Uh oh. This doesn't look good" Flick's words were barely above a whisper, but they drew everyone's attention.  
  
Dawn's hair and eyes had gone coal black and deep blue veins could be seen over her deathly white skin. Power seemed to crackle around her, and that power was defiantly evil.  
  
She screamed a high pitched scream that had everyone covering their ears. The sky/ ceiling in the great hall clouded over and green balls of fire reined around them. Some of the students threw up their arms to cover themselves, but they needn't have bothered. The green fireballs were aiming specifically at the death eaters, encasing each in a fiery prison that they couldn't escape.  
  
When all the death eaters were imprisoned, Dawn collapsed. As she crumpled to floor, the black went from her hair, the ceiling returned to showing the sunset and all the shields dropped. Harry ran over to his girlfriend.  
  
"Dawn? Dawn, are you OK? Wake up!" He shook her gently by the shoulders, and was pulled back by Ginny. Flick bent over watcher and then lifted her effortlessly.  
  
"She's still breathing, just. We've got to get her to Madam Pomfrey. Ginny, could you grab Skye? Professor-"  
  
"Go. We'll take care of things here." Professor Dumbledore said, but the slayers were already out the room, closely followed by Harry, before he'd finished speaking.  
  
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Madam Pomfrey was waiting for the casualties to arrive. She indicated for Flick to set Dawn down on the bed.  
  
"What's wrong with Miss Reiner?"  
  
"She was hit by the Avada Kedavra." Ginny spoke in a low voice.  
  
"Oh, "Madam Pomfrey's voice softened. "Set her down over there, I've got to see to Dawn." Madam Pomfrey bustled about trying to deal with Dawn before anyone else came along. She was muttering things about exhaustion and blood loss as well as things that the slayers couldn't understand. She finally settled Dawn down on a bed and then turned to the slayers with a stern look on her face.  
  
"She's sleeping. I heard you also have injuries. Let me take a look at them...NOW."  
  
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Ten minutes later Professor Dumbledore had sent all those who could walk for themselves to the hospital wing, leaving the staff the grim job of determining the living from the dead. Professor looked around the hall, seeing the young bodies littering the floor.  
  
"In war it is always the innocent that suffer. Dear Merlin, what have we done?"  
  
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That was a bad chapter- I'm almost afraid for people to review! Almost, but I'm a big girl, I can take it! 


	13. Saviour

Thanks to all the reviewers:  
  
Matt: Thanks for the email, I really appreciated it! It made me feel better, :-) VLD: All I'm saying is one of your ideas was right! La Rose Minuit: The Jade thing will either be explained this chapter or in the next. Charmed Chick: Thanks for your review and for reading.  
  
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CHAPTER 13- SAVIOUR  
  
"What do you mean you don't understand? It's a perfectly simple request! GET ME IN TOUCH WITH HOGWARTS! Fine- same to you- Idiot!" Giles slammed Wolfram and Hart's state of the art, top line phone back on the hook, hearing some plastic break as her did so. "Sodding ministry of magic!"  
  
"Problem?" A voice innocently asked from the doorway. Giles turned to see Buffy leaning against the doorframe with a smug smile on her lips along with Spike, Xander and Willow who all looked somewhat amused.  
  
"Those bloody idiots at muggle communications know no more about muggles than Spike does about proper dining etiquette!"  
  
"Hey!" The bleached vampire protested, but he went unnoticed.  
  
"Buffy, I want you to slay them. All of the useless morons!"  
  
"Giles, they're human."  
  
"I don't care! I need to contact Hogwarts, I still haven't found that blasted book and I can't return without it- we have to have that prophecy." Giles ranted, wiping his glasses as he spoke.  
  
"G-man, chill! Just call again!"  
  
Giles looked at Xander in surprise. "My God, Xander that's actually a good idea...and I thought I told you not to call me that?"  
  
"Hey- you know the Xand-man. Always full of ideas!"  
  
"Yeah but they're never any good."  
  
"Shut up Dead boy Junior!"  
  
"Make me, whelp!"  
  
"Guys, as entertaining as this is, I'm not in the mood from wiping your blood off the carpet, so quit it." Buffy chided. Meanwhile, Giles was back on the phone.  
  
"...Yes, Rupert Giles...That's right, Hogwarts...What do you mean? Is everyone OK...Of course, yes I'll head back now, Goodbye."  
  
"What's wrong? Is Dawn OK?"  
  
"There's been a problem. You remember me telling you about the wizarding world's situation?"  
  
"Yeah, Vollymort, what about it?"  
  
"Well, he attacked Hogwarts last night, the attacked was stopped though. The aurors are just being sent out."  
  
"Aurors?"  
  
"Wizard police."  
  
"Why aren't they already there? If they weren't there, then who stopped...Oh no- Dawn?"  
  
"Buffy, calm down. We don't know if Dawn was involved in any way. I'm going back to Hogwarts tonight- I'll make sure Dawns ok."  
  
"Thanks, but unnecessary. I'm going with you!"  
  
"Me too, nibblet's in danger."  
  
"Well, I guess we're headed to the land to tea and tweed."  
  
******************************************************************** ***  
  
It was the early hours in the morning at Hogwarts, but no-one was sleeping. The medi-wing was in chaos and elsewhere in the school; students were furious at being kept in their houses and not told anything.  
  
It was less than half an hour since the battle had finished. All the beds were taken and Madam Pomfrey was healing cuts and then sending the student back to their houses to concentrate on the serious casualties.  
  
Although Dawn's shield had protected the students under it from death, some curses managed to get through on some level and several students were being treated for severe burns and cuts.  
  
Flick left Harry watching over Dawn to check on her friends. Ginny was having a nasty cut patched up and Ron was having his arm mended. Robin was in the next room, lined up with all the bodies that the teachers had found in the hall.  
  
Skye was still where the Ginny had left her after running into the hospital wing. Flick walked over to her friend. It seemed slayer healing continued in death as Skye barely had a cut or a bruise on her. Flick hesitantly stroked Skylar's hair, careful not to disturb her, but pulled her hand back in shock.  
  
She tentatively put a finger on her neck and gasped.  
  
"Madam! Madam Pomfrey!" The witch came hurrying over. "She's alive! Skylar's alive! I felt her pulse!"  
  
Madam Pomfrey leapt into action, drawing a blanket around the slayer and muttering spells while everyone else looked on in shock. Skylar was the second person to survive the killing curse.  
  
******************************************************************** ***  
  
Silence fell in the great hall as Dumbledore mounted the stage. The house elves had put together a hurried breakfast and everyone was gathered in the great hall. Professor Dumbledore looked around at the trusting faces; well, mostly trusting. The Slytherin's just looked bored.  
  
"Last night a great tragedy occurred." He spoke in a voice that was almost a whisper. "Many of you were present at the fight that took place in this very hall, many of you saw your fellow students dying. I am deeply saddened to inform you that the death count stands at 37, with two Gryffindor girls who actively partook in the battle yet to regain consciousness.  
  
I'm afraid that there is more. There are 9 students who have yet to be accounted for and we are making every effort to find them. We can only be thankful that it was not more serious than it was, however one fact remains: War has broken out."  
  
******************************************************************** ***  
  
"What happened?" Dawn demanded. Harry had been avoiding her questions since she had awoken five minutes ago. It had been quite easy at first, but with Madam Pomfrey gone he would have to tell her.  
  
"Voldermort attacked."  
  
"I know that much, the vampires went to Gryffindor and we fought them. Robin didn't make it, did she?"  
  
"No."  
  
Dawn nodded slowly. "We went back to the hall. Oh God, Skye."  
  
"She's OK. The curse knocked her out, but she's going to be ok."  
  
"Really? What happened then? I don't remember..."  
  
"I don't really know. You did something and got really powerful, but you changed. Your hair went black and something happened to your skin-"  
  
"Did it go all veiny?" Dawn asked, fearing the answer.  
  
"Yeah. Has it happened before?"  
  
"Not to me. What did I do?"  
  
"A spell. The sky went black and green fire rained on the death eaters. You trapped them all. It was dark magic, wasn't it?"  
  
Dawn hung her head. "So I didn't kill anyone?" Her big eyes looked into Harry's full of fear.  
  
"No." Harry pulled her into a big hug, holding her tightly. "It's OK to cry, if you need too." He told her.  
  
"I'm OK. It's a Sunnydale thing- meltdown when we're finished. If I start now, I'll never stop and there are still things I have to do. Where are the slayers?"  
  
"No-ones seen Jade; Ginny and Flick went to get something to eat and then they're getting some sleep; Skye's just over there and Robin's next door."  
  
"What about you? You should get some sleep."  
  
"I'd rather stay here."  
  
"Fine, but lay down over there and try to sleep."  
  
Harry tried to protest that he wasn't tired, but he was asleep the moment his head touched the pillows.  
  
Dawn walked over to Skye's bed.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Professor McGonagall heard the girls whispered words and her heart filled with pity. Not just for Dawn, but for Harry, for the slayers and for all the children at Hogwarts.  
  
She watched Dawn move away from her friend and towards the door leading to the next room. Professor McGonagall moved to stop her, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Professor Snape.  
  
"She needs closure." He murmured.  
  
"She can't go in there, it's not healthy!" McGonagall said in a hushed whisper.  
  
"On the contrary, Minerva, this will help." Both professors jumped at the sound of the headmaster approaching.  
  
They jumped again, but this time it was because they heard a yell. Dumbledore lead them into the room that Dawn had just entered. They're eyes adjusted to the lack of light in the windowless room just in time to see Dawn and a fading pile of dust.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Some of the students must have been turned. We'll have to get rid of the bodies."  
  
"No." Professor McGonagall gasped.  
  
"We have to, or more may rise." Dawn insisted. Professor Snape put a consoling arm around her shoulders- the heads of rival houses stood united in their grief.  
  
******************************************************************** ***  
  
Before long, a fire was burning next to the forbidden forest. The fuel was the bodies of the children who had lost a lot of blood. Around it stood Hagrid- crying giant tears, Professor Snape- his mask firmly in place until you looked into his eyes and saw his pain, Professor McGonagall- who looked years older than she had the previous day and Dawn. Professor McGonagall looked at the girl across the fire. She couldn't help but think how young she looked as she carried out her duty, but then, she was only 17. The fire was Dawn's idea. It was either that, or decapitate each body and no- one could bring themselves to do it.  
  
As the fire died out, Harry appeared next to Dawn's side. She had insisted that no-one else be informed of what they were doing, especially not any of her sleeping friends.  
  
"Mr. Potter, please take Miss Summers back to the castle. We can handle it from here. Take care of her." Harry nearly fainted of shock at his potion master's kindly tone, but did as he was told taking a silent Dawn back towards the castle.  
  
They sat down under a big oak tree bathed in sunlight. Dawn leant back against Harry and closed her eyes.  
  
"Dawn? You should probably talk about this."  
  
"I'm fine." She didn't even open her eyes.  
  
"No, you can't be. It's over now. It's over." Tears started to flow down the watchers face. Harry held her in his arms and shed his own tears.  
  
When they had no more tears to cry, they sat there thinking about what had happened.  
  
"It was my fault." Dawn whispered.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Robin dying. I was supposed to look after her and she died."  
  
"It's not your fault. She knew the risks and still decided to fight."  
  
Dawn sighed not believing him. "Thank you."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"Saving me."  
  
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that to you?"  
  
"Not from evil stuff, from myself. You got me to start talking, and believe me that's an achievement." A ghost of a smile crossed her face. She turned to Harry suddenly.  
  
"Why do we do this? Why fight? People die whatever we do."  
  
"You saved hundreds of lives tonight, yes you did, and without taking one in return. And we weren't even ready, that was all Voldermort's strike- we haven't even begun. Next time, it's our turn."  
  
******************************************************************** ***  
  
******************************************************************** ***  
  
******************************************************************** ***  
  
I know it's a bit short, but that's the best place to stop for now. Please review and tell me what you think. 


	14. When We Needed You

WARNING: Corny speech ahead! A bit too mary-sue-ish for my liking, but I was stuck and it had to be said and someone had to say it, so i picked a name out of a hat!  
  
Thanks to all the reviewers:  
  
Vld: Your wish is my command! OK, so i'd already written that bit, but still...  
  
Buffy the Slayer: Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Matt: Hermione is mentioned this chappy and more detail on the missing people  


* * *

CHAPTER 14- WHEN WE NEEDED YOU  
  
As Ron entered the Astrology tower, he noticed a lone figure looking out the window. The aurors had started arriving a while ago; but it was too little to late.  
  
"Hermione?"  
  
"What do you want, Ron?" She didn't sound annoyed or angry; just tired.  
  
"How are you holding up?"  
  
"Me? Oh, I'm bloody marvelous." He'd never heard her swear before. "I've just watched my classmates get murdered or kidnapped and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it." Tears were trickling down her cheeks.  
  
"None of us could stop it. Did you hear who was taken?" He asked gently  
  
"No, I've been up here since breakfast."  
  
Ron moved to sit down next to her. "They took Luna and Neville." She looked up into him shocked. "I saw Justin," Ron continued "they got his little sister; Emily or something. I couldn't help but think what I'd do if it was Ginny. She's on the front line. Robinette was killed, who's saying that Ginny's not next? She could've been killed by those death eaters."  
  
"But she wasn't. She's not doing anything wrong. Look at it this way, would you ever stop helping Harry?"  
  
"No but-"  
  
"No buts. You should be proud of her." She spoke softly, but you could tell that she meant what she said.  
  
Ron sighed. "I am...What's going on down there?"  
  
"The aurors are arriving and snooping about." Hermione spat. "Do you know what time the first auror arrived? Not until gone 4am. The fight was over by that time!"  
  
"They didn't know what was happening."  
  
"Oh really? I heard McGonagall talking; Professor Dumbledore told Fudge about it the moment he knew. They should have been here earlier."  
  
"They can't have known. They would've come otherwise; it would have been like condemning us to death."  
  
Hermione didn't respond to that. She just raised her eyebrows and looked back to the window,  
  
'I wouldn't be so sure, Ron.'

* * *

"Mr. Potter?"  
  
"Professor Giles." The young wizard greeted wearily, not getting up for fear of upsetting the sleeping girl in his arms.  
  
"Is that Dawnie? Is she OK?" A petite blond woman asked.  
  
"Yea. She's just sleeping. Who are you?" He asked, too tired to be tactful.  
  
"I'm Buffy; Dawn's sister. That's Xander, Willow and that's Spike over there in the shadows."  
  
Harry nodded as Dawn started to stir. "Buffy?"  
  
"It's alright, I'm here." Buffy gathered her sobbing sister into her arms.  
  
"It's my fault; I killed her." Dawn sobbed. Buffy looked over to Harry in question.  
  
"Harry, perhaps you and I could show our visitors around the castle?" Giles said, leading Harry away from the two sisters. When they were inside (for Spike's benefit) the Scooby's started questioning him.  
  
"What's her fault?"  
  
"Niblet killed someone?"  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Is everyone OK?"  
  
"It isn't Dawn's fault and she didn't kill anyone." Harry said, with a touch of venom in his voice that surprised the Scooby's. "Death eaters and vampires attacked the school during the dance. Voldermort cast spells so the teachers couldn't get in so Dawn and the rest had to stop him. She put up these shields around the slayers and most of us so we'd be protected."  
  
"What kind of shield?" Giles injected.  
  
"Umm Wicca? She didn't use a wand." The four Scooby's shared a meaningful glance. Harry made a note to ask them about it later.  
  
"Anyway, the vampires separated and attacked the Gryffindor common room. Skylar and the professors stayed to fight the death eaters and the others took on the vampires. I don't know what happened there, but sometime around dawn, they can back to the hall to help finish it. Skye was hit by a killing curse and Dawn thought she was dead-"  
  
"She survived an Avada Kedavra?" Giles was shocked; he was the only Scooby who knew of the danger of that curse.  
  
"Yes; Dawn's shield protected her. But we thought she was dead and something happened to Dawn. Her hair went black and a green fire imprisoned all the death eaters. She didn't kill them, but it took a lot of energy and she passed out. From what I can gather she used dark magic."  
  
Harry didn't see the worried looks passing between the Scooby's and Willow going paler than usual. "What happened when she came round?" It was Xander who spoke, his good eye fixed on Harry.  
  
"We talked a bit and, um, she had to burn the bodies that might have been turned."  
  
"What? You let her do that?" Harry couldn't help but feel intimidated by the angry bleached vampire that Dawn thought of as a brother.  
  
"I didn't let her. She just did it. Madam Pomfrey, that's the nurse, gave me a sleeping draught so I was unconscious."  
  
"How many?"  
  
"What?" Harry turned to the softly spoken red head.  
  
"How many were burnt?"  
  
"37 died, but only 21 were... you know. There are 9 people missing. Some of the death eaters left early and took prisoners."  
  
"Missing? That sounds like our area. We can help with that." Xander volunteered, glad to have something to do.  
  
"Yes. Harry would you please take Xander, Willow and Spike to Professor Dumbledore. I must find Professor Snape."  
  
"Wait!" Willow called. "Dawn said she killed someone."  
  
"She didn't kill anyone." Harry snapped, feeling protective of his girlfriend.  
  
"But she feels responsible for someone's death." Willow reasoned.  
  
"Yes. One of the slayers didn't make it- Robin was killed by a vampire."  
  
"Oh dear." Giles started cleaning his glasses absently, a stricken look in his eyes. He knew what it was like to lose a slayer and he knew how badly Dawn would blame herself like he did when Buffy died.

* * *

"It was my fault. I was supposed to protect her."  
  
"No, Dawn, you can't believe that. I don't blame Giles for me dying."  
  
"That was my fault too. You wouldn't have to have jumped if I didn't get kidnapped." Dawn was getting hysterical.  
  
"Not this again. I don't blame you; it was Glory's fault and no-one else's. Just like this is Voldermort's fault and that vampire's fault, not yours. You remember the battle with the first? Well, 11 slayers died then. Was that my fault?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not? I lead them into battle. I trained them. I fought alongside them."  
  
"Because they knew the risks and still wanted to fight. You didn't kill them, the uber-vamps did."  
  
"Exactly. You didn't kill Robin and don't ever think you did." Buffy's point seemed to be getting across.  
  
"Thanks Buffy."  
  
"Hey what are big sisters for?"  
  
Dawn smiled, the first since the fight started.  
  
"I'm just sorry I wasn't here when you needed me."  
  
"Buffy, you're here now, that's what matters. Besides, I had to fight without you holding my hand at some point; now's as good of a time as any."  
  
"Miss Summers, Miss Summers!"  
  
"What is it, Dobby?"  
  
"Miss McGonagall says Miss Reiner is woken up! She says for you to go to the hospital ward."  
  
Dawn was halfway to the castle before Dobby stopped talking. Buffy was running behind her, throwing two first years out of her path.  
  
The first thing that met Dawn's eyes as he entered the hospital wing was Skylar lying on a hospital bed. Actually, "lying" wasn't quite the correct term; Skye was struggling to sit up while Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall attempted to make her lie down. Luckily the slayer still wasn't at full strength or else the witches restraining her would have been thrown into the hospital walls.  
  
"Skye? Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm fine. But they won't let me get up." Skye struggled again.  
  
"Maybe you shouldn't." Skylar sent her friend a death glare. "Well, you were hit with a killing curse."  
  
"I know. Guess Harry isn't as special as he thinks!" She quipped.  
  
"Did you hear what happened?"  
  
Skylar immediately sobered. "Robin didn't make it. We knew this might happen, but it's still hard, you know?"  
  
Dawn nodded. "I'm sorry."  
  
"What for? It wasn't your fault."  
  
Buffy smiled behind Dawn. She had only met Skye and Harry so far, but they seemed like good friends; like the Scooby's are for her.

* * *

"Who is it?" A high pitched but defiantly male voice called through the Slytherin portrait hole.  
  
"I need to speak to Jaden Mormon." Dawn called back. She heard footsteps scurrying away and a minute later Jade appeared.  
  
"I wondered when you'd be along." She said, too casually for Dawn's liking.  
  
"Where've you been? It was bad enough you dropping training, but you missed a major fight."  
  
"I didn't know OK? Would you just get off my back?" Jade rolled her eyes and sighed, more moody teeager than slayer.  
  
"You didn't know that war was breaking out a few meters away?"  
  
"No! I wasn't at the dance in case you don't remember."  
  
"Why weren't you there?"  
  
"I'm a Slytherin. I can't go to a muggle themed dance."  
  
"And not one of your 'friends' mentioned what was happening?"  
  
"Nope." Dawn didn't believe her at all, so she decided to change tactics.  
  
"Robin's dead."  
  
"That I heard."  
  
"Don't you care?" She'd expected more of a reaction than that.  
  
"Of course I do."  
  
"It doesn't sound like it."  
  
Jaden shrugged. The portrait hole opened again and Draco Malfoy jumped out. He pecked Jade on the lips and slung his arm around her shoulders before snarling at Dawn.  
  
"Hey gorgeous. What's the mudblood yank doing here?"  
  
"She's just leaving."  
  
"I'll talk to you later, Jaden."  
  
"Maybe." Jaden flicked her hair over her shoulder as she climbed back into the Slytherin rooms.  
  
As the portrait hole closed behind Jade, Dawn knew what she had to do.

* * *

Later that day, Dawn, Flick, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione and the visiting Scooby's were all sitting around Skye's bed.  
  
"I spoke to Jade."  
  
"What did she say?"  
  
"Not a lot. She claims that she didn't know about the fight but she must have- half the Slytherin's must have known about it weeks ago. I mean, their parents broke out of the Azkaban!"  
  
"You think she's lying?"  
  
"She must be. She doesn't seem to care about Robin or anyone...And she's going out with Draco Malfoy!"  
  
"What?" several voices exclaimed.  
  
"Who's Draco Malfoy?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Future death eater and all round pain in the ass." Ron filled her in.  
  
"Anyway,"Dawn continued; "I think we should get Faith or Angel here to talk to her. The last thing we want is a rouge slayer."  
  
"Do you think she's actually, you know, told anyone about us or killed someone or something?" Flick was scared and she wasn't ashamed to admitt it. This was her friend, afterall.  
  
"No, that's why I want Faith or Angel to talk to her; they know what she's going through."  
  
"I'll get on to LA right now and ask one of them to come down." Giles left the hospital wing and headed towards his office where he could floo to Wolfram and Hart.  
  
"So, Dawnie, you're making with the wand waving?" Xander said conversationally.  
  
"Yup. It's cool and easier to control than Wicca...ooh, you have to see my wand; it's so cool!"  
  
Dawn took out her wand and handed it too Xander.  
  
"Hey; I made this! It's one of the stakes I made a few years back!"  
  
"I know. It's made of Willow wood with Buffy's and Spike's blood. As far as I can tell, Giles got all the ingredients and added the magic and then gave it too Oliviander that time when Willow was in England recovering."  
  
"Cool! So we're like the source of your power!" Buffy said.  
  
"Kinda, I guess. But the wand just channels the power."  
  
"The power comes from her blood." Spike growled. "I ate a wand nutter once; the magic gave the blood an extra kick."  
  
"Eww, Spike, that's gross! Don't worry, he's not gonna eat you; he's good now." Dawn reassured the three wizards who had only met Spike that day.  
  
"Hey! I'm still the big bad!" Spike protested.  
  
"Of course you are sweetie." Dawn reached over and patted his knee in a pitying way.  
  
Spike was interrupted from replying by the entry of the Minister of Magic and his guards and Dumbledore.  
  
"Is that them?" Fudge asked, but he didn't wait for a reply. He nodded the four guards' forward.  
  
"By the order of the Minister of Magic, you are under arrest." Whilst one guard spoke, the other three each moved to stand by Flick, Ginny and Skylar.  
  
"You can't arrest them!"  
  
"On what charge?"  
  
"Professor Dumbledore!"  
  
"Get off me!"  
  
"What's happening?"  
  
"Professor Dumbledore has been telling me a... interesting story about the fight that took place at Hogwarts last night." Fudge said when it was quiet. "He insists that the three of you are vampire slayers. Now at one time the Ministry may not have believed this, but there has been evidence to support the legend of the slayer for a while now so we accept the truth. This is why we cannot allow such dangerous creatures to be left in a school, especially as they seem so keen to use violence."  
  
"If they're so dangerous, then you won't be able to hold them." Dawn pointed out.  
  
The minister's only reply was a nod to the aurors/ bodyguards holding the slayers who muttered stuperfy curses leaving the three surprised girls unconscious.  
  
"You can't do that! They're not dangerous; they just defended the school!"  
  
"That's what Professor Dumbledore claimed as well. But we have a reason to believe that the vampire slayer attracts monsters. They must have let the vampires into the building and then tried to cover their tracks. They should have waited for aurors and not have resorted to violence."  
  
"Just 'cause they attract monsters, doesn't mean they are monsters!"  
  
"If we'd have waited for the aurors, we'd all be dead!"  
  
"Yeah. I'm a sl-"Buffy started, but she was interrupted by Dumbledore.  
  
"What both the Miss Summers' is trying to say is that these three young ladies fought to defend the school, not to destroy it. And, as headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, I exercise my right to keep these students on the premises."  
  
"Albus, you can't mean that. They are dangerous; are you willing to risk the lives of all the students?" Fudge spluttered.  
  
"I would 'risk' my own life. I think that it would be best for you too take you aurors and go; you can't do anything here."  
  
"Very well. We will return for a trial shortly. Good day." Fudge marched out of the room, his bodyguards trailing after him. Hermione muttered the enervate charm and the slayers came round.  
  
"What was that all about?" Flick asked angrily.  
  
"That's what I want to know!" Dawn turned to Professor Dumbledore.  
  
"Minister Fudge had to be informed what happened. The whole school either saw or heard about who fought the vampires and there had to be an explanation given. The minister does not know of Dawn's special qualities or of Miss Mormon's. He is also unaware of other various 'talents' in this room." He aimed the last comment at Buffy and Willow.  
  
"Well that's something. What should we do about the trial?"  
  
"I think that you should go and tell the truth. The absolute and utter truth; be painfully honest, do you understand Miss Summers?"  
  
Comprehension shone in Dawn's eyes and she nodded; a stubborn look on her face. 

"Jaden?" The girl in question leapt up from where she was sitting near Hagrid's hut.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"I'm Angel; Dawn's friend."  
  
"The vampire."  
  
"Yes." It wasn't a question, but he answered it anyway. "Dawn asked me to talk to you before it was too late."  
  
"Too late for what?"  
  
"Too come back. Did she tell you about Faith?"  
  
"Second slayer. Killed a man and went evil. Ended up in prison."  
  
"Pretty much. But she regretted everything and is back to herself now."  
  
"How do you she wasn't herself then."  
  
"She hated what she was doing, but she couldn't stop. It felt fine at first, but then it got worse but she couldn't get out of it. She told me that it was like she had no control over her actions. She could feel the pain and just wanted it to stop."  
  
"What's that got to do with me?" Her voice trembled a little.  
  
"You were put in Slytherin. From what I can tell, that pretty much meant you had to stop meeting with Dawn and the rest, but it doesn't have to stay that way. You couldn't help them at the dance, but you can now. You should come to LA, get away from it all"  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Do you want to?"  
  
"Yeah, I really do."  
  
"Then do it. I'll arrange it with everyone. And Jade, don't worry. It'll be OK."  


It was the day of the trail. The students were still missing, despite Willow's best efforts and Wolfram and Hart searching through all of their clients. Jaden was still in LA (doing well according to Angel) and Flick, Skye and Ginny were all handcuffed and sitting in the docks, much to Mrs. Weasly's indignation and Dawn's amusement- how would a little bit of metal stop a slayer if she really wanted to get loose? Willow was being questioned. Everyone was surprised when she was called as she wasn't even at Hogwarts when the fight happened.  
  
"What is your relationship to the accused, Miss Rosenberg?"  
  
"I've known Dawn for years and she knows them."  
  
"But what is your relationship?"  
  
Willow rolled her eyes. "They're my best friends', little sisters' students and friends."  
  
"Would you say you knew them well?"  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"And there was an incident involving you a few years back, correct?"  
  
"What kind of incident?" Willow narrowed her eyes looking at the wizard questioning her.  
  
"You tried to destroy the world."  
  
"Oh, that. Yup that's true." A shocked gasp sounded from the gallery. "I didn't actually do it!"  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"My friend, Xander, told me not too, so I stopped."  
  
"That was good of him. Why did you do it?" No small not of sarcasm in his voice.  
  
"Because my partner was murdered and my best friend nearly was. I lost control and overloaded on dark magic's."  
  
"What's stopping you losing control again? NOTHING! There you have it! The accused are acquainted with and Wicca witch who admitted trying to end the world." The wizard went back to his seat, leaving an open mouthed Willow in the stand.  
  
"Well that went well." Dawn muttered to Buffy who was sitting next to her.  
  
The day didn't get much better. Flick lost her temper and started yelling and everyone thought Skye was mad when she claimed to have survived the killing curse. Ginny's telling of Robinette's death gained them the 'sympathy vote', but all in all it wasn't looking so good. Not that it really mattered; it they didn't win they could just break out, but that would be so much hassle. Dawn turned her attention back to Fudge:  
  
"...bunch of dangerous delinquents who have no place in a school! You are a danger to the students at Hogwarts! Do you have anymore to say for yourselves before we pass judgment?"  
  
"Umm, we would like for Dawn Summers to say something."  
  
Dawn stood and left her seat next to Buffy. She faced the court and began to speak:  
  
"I'm not a slayer...but I've fought alongside them for years, most recently as a watcher. I am also one of the students at Hogwarts who is, apparently, in danger. Let me tell you something about danger; we were in danger when we were attacked by vampires and death eaters. There were hundreds of students in danger that night, but only 37 died. Why was that, Minister?  
  
"It was because my friends, who you have on trial today for failing to protect those children; my friends and I, fought to protect them because we were the only ones that could. When Hogwarts was attacked last week where were you and the aurors?  
  
"When we saw children dying all around us, our friends dying, where were you? Where were you when a vampire slashed open my stomach? Where were you when I had to watch one of those who had been fighting for the lives of the students get murdered? You are sitting there and calling the slayers a danger to those they fought to protect...a danger to those that one of them died protecting.  
  
"You said we should have waited for the aurors before resorting to violence, but the aurors weren't there. We fought all night and in the morning the aurors still weren't there. When I had to burn the bodies of my housemates who may have been sired they still weren't there. How can you sit there and blame us for defending ourselves when the people whose job it is were miles away and oblivious of the problem?  
  
"You talk about the students who lost their lives, but you forget that Felicity, Skylar and Ginny are students too. They're the same age as those who died, but you're treating them like adult criminals. We were forced into fighting for our lives and theirs because there was no-one else to do it.  
  
"Why isn't the school better protected? Voldermort's two main targets are there yet there is no protection for them or the students. We needed you and the aurors, but you weren't there. You'll keep failing to protect them so you're punishing my friends for doing what you can't. We gave them that protection as best as we could. You are employed to protect them and you were afraid. You failed them, not us. You can't protect them; you don't have what it takes. We do. Every student that is still alive was saved by either a slayer or a teacher, not you. But you blame us for those we couldn't save, even though if we weren't there to protect he students then they would all be dead.  
  
"It wasn't our job to protect anyone then, but we did it. And we'll keep doing it until we die. We'll do our best, but this is war and people will die; just like they did at Hogwarts. You can't save everyone, but we'll try which is more than I can say for you, Minister. Let us go, so that we can do the job you can't. We still have missing children to find."  
  
The silence in the court was broken only by the muffled sobbing of some women. Buffy had tears running down her cheeks, as did Willow, but when her little sister looked at her anxiously for approval, Buffy gave her a watery smile and a nod.  
  
A wizard stood up behind Buffy and shouted: "She's right! Where was the ministry when the children were dying?"  
  
"Yeah! Why wasn't the school protected?"  
  
"Why were the students left to fight alone?"  
  
Minister Fudge squirmed under the angry shouts and death looks of the spectators, and, once again, tried to weasle the way out of the mess he created.  
  
As Dawn and the slayers left the courtroom, they were stopped by one of Fudge's jury.  
  
"For what it's worth; I think you were right and so did everyone else. We wanted to ask if you would consider joining forces. You need magic to defeat him, but we can't help but think that we should use some of your tactics."  
  
"Team up? Fudge wants to team up?"  
  
"Well the Minister resigned. And now we are going to protect Hogwarts better."  
  
Dawn looked to Buffy for guidance, but didn't get any. "Umm, OK."  
  
"Capital!" Professor Dumbledore appeared from nowhere. "But I must insist that you be confined to strategy meeting only, you do still have school work to catch up on! Professor Giles indicated that the elder Miss Summers would also be keen to help in our fight and that she may have some friends to help us."  
  
"I don't know. There's still the monthly apocalypse in LA to take care of..."  
  
"Please, Buffy, we need all the help we can get."  
  
"OK, I'll stay. Is that ok with you Wills?"  
  
"Hunky-dory!"  
  
"Hunky-dory?" Buffy burst out laughing. "Actually I think you've already spent too much time in the mother country!"  
  
"What are they laughing about?" Ginny asked having just come back from talking with her mother.  
  
"Sunnydale-ian apocalypse stress relief." Willow giggled.  
  
"What?"  
  
"God knows. Could be anything with those two. Are you ready to floo back?"  
  
A series of affirmations greeted her so Dawn stepped into the fireplace said "Hogwarts!" and vanished in a swirl of blue fire.

* * *

Another chapter done, yay! A very big chapter done! Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please Review! 


	15. Lots of Scenes to Clear Some Stuff Up!

**_IMPORTANT NOTICE: It's my birthday tomorrow!!! Hooray for me!!!  
_**  
I came to my attention that I mentioned a prophecy many chapters ago and have totally forgotten about it and strayed from the original storyline...not that I had a storyline, but that's what happen when you let the characters guide you. Anyhow, this chapter is a filling in the blanks which I have created.  
  
P.S: Forgive the French! I haven't had to speak it in ages so it's a little rusty, but there are only a couple of lines of it.  
  
Thanks to all the reviewers:  
  
**Thugalet:** Thanks for the correction, it'll be green fire from now on. I don't know where I got blue from...  
  
**LaRoseMinuit:** Thanks for reading. I'm not sure if I should be writing fan fic when I have exams to consider!!!  
  
**Matt:** can you guess the 6th slayer now? I liked the scene idea, so I decided to put it in! Thanks!  
  
**Vld:** It wasn't supposed to be too similar, but I've read freakazoid high & it must have stuck with me more than I thought! I re-read it & it is similar, opps!  
  
**Lark227and blondi gurl:** Thanks so much for your reviews! They brighten up my day and make me write faster!

* * *

**CHAPTER 15- LOTS OF SCENES THAT (HOPEFULLY) CLEAR SOME STUFF UP **

* * *

AT HOGWARTS  
  
"Toffee bon-bon." Professor Snape panted. The stone gargoyle that stood guard on the Headmasters office refused to move. "Toffee bon-bon!" he tried again. "Dammit! Sherbet sticks, rhubarb and custard, sugar almonds, acid drops, Cadbury éclairs!" The gargoyle slid open and the potions master wasted no time in dashing up the stairs.  
  
"Professor!" Dumbledore looked up, mildly surprised by the potions master's breathless entrance.  
  
"Severus I can only assume that this is a matter of great importance." He gestured the reformed death eater into a seat which Professor Snape gladly took.  
  
"I have just returned with a meeting with the dark lord. It seems he has made some headway with the prophecy I mentioned some time ago."  
  
"Yes, I remember, 'the boy who lived is to be helped by the key in his mission to defeat the Snake Lord' if I remember correctly. Has he found it?"  
  
"Not it, professor, him or her."  
  
"Whatever do you mean, Severus?" Professor Dumbledore sounded down right stunned and that wasn't something you would come across often, if ever.  
  
"The key is said to have been made into human form and sent to the slayer in the hope that she would protect it." Someone who didn't know Severus Snape would say that he was boarder line excited.  
  
Dumbledore sighed. "There are hundreds of active slayers. The key could be anyone they cared enough about to protect."  
  
Professor Snape gave a slight smirk. "The key was activated three years ago. There were only two slayers active then and unless a group on monks saw fit to send a highly dangerous ball of energy to be protected by an unstable murderer then I think we can say that Buffy Summers was the keys protector."  
  
"Miss Summers is still here visiting Dawn. She must know surely? Yes, yes she must. I will talk with her later."  
  
"Professor Dumbledore; we found something more of the prophecy today..."

* * *

SOMEWHERE COLD AND DARK  
  
There were nine of them. Nine had arrived, and nine were still present. It was a miracle really, since none of them were particularly gifted in self defence and they were Voldermort's prisoners.  
  
Not that they had actually seen the 'dark lord' just his minions and seeing was a bit too strong of a word as they always wore those dammed cloaks.  
  
It had escaped no-ones attention that there were no Slytherin's amongst them. Gryffindor's, Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's united, that was them. No-one like the Slytherin's anyway.  
  
The honour role was: Neville, Luna, and two fourth years named Jackie and Katie from Gryffindor, two second years (Emily Flinch-Flechedy and Annie Brown) from Ravenclaw and a sixth year (Lucy), a fifth year (Mike) and a fourth year (Thomas) from Hufflepuff.  
  
In the case of Jackie, Katie, Lucy, Mike and Thomas, they had just been unlucky, or lucky depending on your viewpoint. They had been on the opposite side of the hall to where the shields went up and had tried to make a run for it.  
  
They were the one who hadn't been slaughtered by the vampires as they fought to get to safety.  
  
Emily and Annie shouldn't have even been out of their common room. They had snuck out to watch the dance and karaoke and were captured in the corridors by a couple of death eaters.  
  
Luna had been pulling the injured from the battlefield. She had gotten several to safety when she noticed Neville. He had just stepped out from the shields cover for a moment to pick up his dropped wand, but a vampire had grabbed him.  
  
Luna went on impulse and using moves lifted from the slayers fighting nearby, had staked the vampire. However their luck didn't hold and they were both hit with stuperfy's.  
  
"I'm bored!" Annie whined for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day.  
  
"You're bored? We're practically on death row and you're bored?" Mike was panicking.  
  
"What's death row?" Neville asked tentatively. Mike had mentioned it a couple of times and the less informed of the muggle world didn't have a clue what it was.  
  
"In parts of the muggle world, if someone commits a really bad crime, they're sentenced to death and wait on death row to be killed."  
  
"Oh." One word that spoke volumes.  
  
For the first few days they had tried to stay positive. Tried; but everyone was panicked and scared. Now they accepted the fact that they would probably be killed.  
  
They all had different reactions to this. Annie cried and whined, Neville and Lucy became withdrawn and quiet, Mike started snapping at everyone and Emily and Luna were restless.  
  
"Isn't there anything we can do?" They all looked to Thomas slightly surprised. He barely spoke and they tended to forget about him.  
  
"Like what? They've taken our wands." Jackie said dejectedly.  
  
"Plus we don't have a chance fighting them physically."  
  
"Why not?" Emily jumped to her feet, energy radiating off her.  
  
"Well they haven't fed us anything but a tiny bit of bread and water since we got here and that was five days ago. You and Luna are the only ones who can still stand." Mike snapped again.  
  
It was true. Everyone was lying around their cell except for the slightly barmy Luna and little Emily.  
  
"It's worth a shot." Luna said in her usual dreamy voice. "They'll kill us eventually. This way we can fight rather than let them fed us to their pet Schnarks."  
  
"Schnarks? Wait, let me guess. Your father claims all death eaters have these things that no-one can prove exists?" Luna nodded chirpily. "Oh, great, I'm convinced."  
  
"What do we have to lose? Luna and Neville have already faced death eaters before and live." Katie was referring to the events last year.  
  
"Yes but they had practically an army of aurors behind them!" Mike was nearly shouting.  
  
"What do we have to lose?" Emily repeated softly, showing maturity beyond her thirteen years. "Who's in for at least trying to live?"  
  
One by one the small group of students raised their hands, lead by Emily, Luna and Neville. Soon Mike was the only one who was 'out'. As everyone looked at him expectantly he shook his head, raising his hand and sighed: "What do we have to lose?"

* * *

BACK AT HOGWARTS  
  
"Dawn? Dawn, Qu'est ce qui s'est passé?" Suddenly Dawn was nearly bowled over by a petite woman launching into her. [Dawn, what happened?]  
  
"Mrs. Chardon, I..." But she had no words to comfort the sobbing French woman who had just lost her daughter. Mr. Chardon gently pulled his wife away from Dawn and drew her to him.  
  
"Dawn; what happened to Robinette?" His deep voice was heavily accented and it wavered as he spoke.  
  
"Voldermort attacked the school with vampires." She said gently, ignoring their flinched as she spoke to his name. "We had to fight through the night. R-Robinette was killed by a vampire."  
  
"Non, no!" They had already heard the news, but now it seem so much more real. "Ma petite fille! Ma pauvre bébé!" [My little girl! My poor baby!]  
  
Dawn felt tears stinging at her eyes at the mothers anguished cries and the fathers pain filled eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispered. This alerted Mrs. Chardon's attention back to the watcher.  
  
"You; you were supposed to look after her, you promised, you promised..." she broke down again in her husband's arms.  
  
"I'm so sorry, I did everything I could, we all did. I..." she trailed off spreading her arms hopelessly in front of her, a tear sliding down her cheek.  
  
"Perhaps you would please take us to our daughter." Mr. Chardon spoke dully. Dawn nodded and led them to the hospital ward. The corpses had all been laid out on beds, half covered by white sheets. Mrs. Chardon gasped as she saw Robin's lifeless body lying on a cold, white bed.  
  
"A mother is not supposed to outlive her child." She murmured, taking her daughters hand a tear falling onto the bed.  
  
"I'm so sorry, if there was anything I could do..."  
  
"There is nothing you can do! My daughter is dead and she would never have been if she hadn't met you!" Dawn stepped back at the French woman's anger. But it was soon replaced by a blank look of hopelessness. "I'm sorry, Dawn, but we want to be alone with our daughter now."  
  
"We don't blame you. Goodbye, Dawn." Mr. Chardon turned back towards his wife as Dawn backed out of the hospital ward, finally allowing the tears that had been threatening to fall.

* * *

THE LA OFFICES OF WOLFRAM AND HART  
  
"Hummmmmmmmmm...what's the point of this...Hummmmmmmmmm."  
  
"Hummmmmmmmmm...it helps you find your inner centre...Hummmmmmmmmm."  
  
"Hummmmmmmmmm...Angel this is ridiculous."  
  
"Hummmmmmmmmm... no it isn't... Hummmmmmmmmm humm- hey, you stopped humming!"  
  
"It wasn't helping me find my inner centre or relax or any of that stuff that meditation is meant to do. Maybe Spike is right when he calls you a poofter."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Angel, no self respecting guy is gonna do yoga!" Jaden rose from her Buddha position on the floor to standing, arms folded, back tense.  
  
"It isn't yoga. It's meditation." The vampire said defensively.  
  
"Whatever!" The slayer flounced down in one of Wolfram and Hart's comfy office chairs. "What is this supposed to achieve?"  
  
"You said you wanted to change, to be a 'do-gooder' as you put it. That's one of the things recommended; meditation and relaxation."  
  
"Maybe so, but it's not for me."  
  
"OK; so talk." Angel sat in his chair opposite her, the sun shining on his face.  
  
"About what?" Angel gave her 'the look' and she sighed. "OK, I'll talk. When I was put into Slytherin, I was on my own in an evil house. The hat said I wanted power, and I guess I did in a way, I do. But not evilly! I want to have the power to, no offence, kill vampires and demons and stuff. Anyway, I couldn't really talk to Dawn or Skye or anyone 'cause I was in Slytherin and Draco is sooo cute and-"  
  
"Whoa, slow down. Why couldn't you talk to anyone?"  
  
"I guess I just got lonely. Slytherin's don't like their housemates associating with other houses so for the first few weeks no-one was talking to me."  
  
"That must've been hard." Angel said comfortingly.  
  
Jaden gave him an incredulous look. "That must've been hard? God, Angel, what are you, some kind of shrink? You look down on me-"  
  
"No I don't! I understand; I went through the same thing when I got my soul back. You feel lost and lonely and like no-one can help you, but they can! Let me help you." He pleaded.  
  
Jaden sighed and threw her hands up. It did make her fell better after talking to him.  
  
"Fine! Draco Malfoy is like the prince of Slytherin. He's the boy everyone wants to date and who all the guys want to be like. He was kind to me. He talked to me in the common room and made things more bearable. Then one day he convinced me to play a game with him and some of the others instead of meeting up with the others. And then it happened again." The young slayer spoke quietly, but honestly.  
  
"And eventually, you were accepted by your housemates and didn't want to be lonely again?" Angel asked softly. Jaden nodded; her eyes on the carpet.  
  
"You don't have to be lonely, Jaden. Dawn, Skylar, Flick, everyone... they're all worried about you and want you back."  
  
"How can they forgive me?" Jade asked tearfully.  
  
"The same way I was forgiven when I lost my soul a few years back. You didn't know that, did you? I won't go into details, Dawn can tell you those, but I lost my soul and tortured all of Buffy's friends and family. They forgave me, and you haven't done anything near that serious. Jaden, do you want to go back? Are you ready?"  
  
Jaden thought about the question for a bit. It would be so easy to stay in LA. Finally she looked back at Angel. "Thanks, Angel, for everything. I'm ready to go back."

* * *

AT HOGWARTS ONCE AGAIN  
  
"Miss Summers, I have been meaning to ask you something."  
  
"Yes, professor?" Buffy looked up from where she was pouring over a map with Giles, looking for any coloured dots as an indication that Willow's latest spell to locate the missing students was working.  
  
"Professor Snape made a...interesting discovery today. We were wondering of you knew anything of a key, last activated three years ago?"  
  
"What? Why? What do you want with her?" Buffy was immediately on the defence.  
  
"Her? We want to protect her. Lord Voldermort id looking for her and he must not get her. Do you know who she is?"  
  
Buffy sighed and looked to Giles for guidance. He gave her a small nod, so she told Professor Dumbledore all she knew. About Dawn, about the ritual and about her death (leaving out the part where she is was in heaven).  
  
"Dawn is the key? Is that where she gets her power." Buffy nodded 'yes'. "Oh dear."  
  
"Oh dear? I don't like the sound of that." Buffy said, worried.  
  
"There is a prophecy-"  
  
Three simultaneous groans came from the trio from Sunnydale. "We hate prophecies." Willow said as an explanation.  
  
"Indeed." Professor Dumbledore continued. "It says that the boy who lived shall be helped by the key in his fight with the snake lord."  
  
"Well, we knew that Dawn was going to help Harry anyway." Buffy said reasonably.  
  
"Yes. Well today we found something new about the prophecy. We are not sure of the exact translation, but it defiantly says that... that either 'the boy who lived' or 'the key' will die in the fight against Voldermort."  
  
Both Willow and Buffy wore identical horrified, and scared faces at the news. Giles cleaned his glasses, without even registering, a similar expression on his face. "Dear Lord."

* * *

I got lots of reviews last chapter and see how fast this next one got out? That's a big hint people, please review! 


	16. Prophecies,

Sorry about the wait. The guy who came to fix the computer made it even more broken, Idiot! Anyhow, thanks to everyone who reviewed: Mademoiselle Morte, Jess yes, there will be more interaction over the next couple of chaps) and matt  
  
**CHAPTER 16- Prophecies**  
  
_'The boy who lived should be assisted in his battle with the Snake Lord by the Key.  
  
Together they will fight the darkness; they will stand united, but fall apart.  
  
One shall live, one shall fall. Both can triumph, for they make a formidable team;  
  
But without each other, they shall surely fail.'_  
  
"That's it?" Voldermort hissed. "You are gone for three days and you know nothing new?"  
  
"Please, my Lord, we know that we can not beat them together."  
  
"Who together? 'The boy who lived' is obviously Potter," he spat, "but we don't know what this 'key' is!"  
  
"It must be something living, my Lord, how else how could it live or die?"  
  
"Yes, yes." Voldermort said slowly, considering something. "A student perhaps? Or a teacher? Or a flower; It could be the lake monster for all we know! One thing I do know, the Key can not get to Potter. Rayne; leave me now. Continue to try to find the identity of the key."  
  
"Yes, my Lord." Ethan Rayne backed out of the room, bowing as he went. He was going to have to try all of his old contacts; one of them must know the identity of the Key.  
  
..................................................................................................  
  
In a country estate in the middle of nowhere, chaos had broken out. A couple of death eaters had rushed down to the basement upon hearing a very big crash coming from the usually quite prisoners.  
  
They were incredibly surprised to see a heavy oak door lying flat on the floor in front of the room/cell the prisoners from Hogwarts had been locked in. And further shocked to see the side door of the damp basement half open.  
  
The first death eater was knocked out by the leg of a chair before he could voice his surprise. The second was also taken care of, but not before his yell alerted the death eaters upstairs.  
  
"Come on; we've got to get out of here!" Luna lowered the chair leg, dashing out the side exit of the basement to find herself in a moat-like ditch that ran around the estate.  
  
"Wait! What about our wands?" Emily asked, supporting Annie wit one arm, the other held a second chair leg.  
  
"No time. Someone would have heard that shout; we've got to get as far away from here as possible." Luna was already climbing out of the ditch. When she got out, she leant back over and pulled Mike up without any difficulty.  
  
Annie was surprised at Luna's attitude. Although she was a few years younger, they were both in Ravenclaw and the younger girl had always thought Luna to be quite, well totally actually, dippy.  
  
Emily closed and barricaded the door they had just come through to try and bide them some time. "Let's head for the woods over there. If we go over the moors then we'll be like sitting ducks."  
  
As they headed for the cover of the trees, Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles had just heard the news about a certain prophecy.  
  
"We have to get Dawn away from here." Buffy was adamant that this was what she wanted.  
  
"Miss Summers, I really think-"Dumbledore began, but he was interrupted by a worked up Buffy.  
  
"No! She's my sister and I'm not putting her in danger."  
  
"Err, guys. It seems we have a development." Willow indicated to the large map behind her. It showed seven blue dots and two orange dots slowly moving east and a big group of black dots gaining on them. "We've found them."  
  
"There are apparating wards around the area. We can't get in that way. We could set up a port key, but that will take a while." Dumbledore commented.  
  
Buffy slipped into business mode. "Find Dawn. Our best bet is to open a portal right next to them and then pull them back."  
  
Dawn was tracked down by Willow and met the others in the guest rooms Dumbledore had set up for the American visitors. "What?" she asked wearily.  
  
"We've found the missing students. Can you open a portal right neto the little dot things?" Xander said, pulling a short sword out of a suitcase.  
  
"Sure. Hey, how are there slayers with them?"  
  
"Slayers?" He trained his one good eye on Dawn.  
  
"Yes. There are two little orange dots. All the slayers are accounted for...it must be the second Hogwarts slayer and another one-"  
  
"We can worry about it later." Buffy reminded her of the task in hand. Dawn closed her eyes and concentrated. Almost immediately a swirling green portal opened up.  
  
"Keep it open until we get back." Buffy said before jumping through the portal. Dawn nodded not speaking for fear of breaking her concentration. Dumbledore, Giles, Xander and Willow jumped through after Buffy and found themselves a few meters away from a group of tired looking students.  
  
Two of the group went into defensive positions, before they saw Professor Dumbledore.  
  
"Professor!" Emily sighed with relief. "The death eaters are coming! We have to get out of here."  
  
"Is everyone here? Capital. Well, off you go then. Miss Rosenberg, if you'd be so kind as to lead the way back."  
  
"Back? Aren't we gonna pound the bad guys?" Buffy asked, slightly disappointed.  
  
"We're not ready to fight them. We would lose." Dumbledore went back through the portal with Giles. Willow shrugged and followed them, hearing the death eater's shouts as they got closer.  
  
"Live to fight another day, Buff; let's go." Xander said pushing Buffy over to the portal and then following her through.  
  
"Dawn, are you OK?" Buffy said as her sister almost collapsed after closing the portal.  
  
"I'm fine. Just a little tired. Is everyone OK?"  
  
"Everyone's fine. Tired and hungry, but apart from that..." Buffy smiled and was glad to see Dawn return it.  
  
Half an hour later, everyone had been fed and the group were still sitting in the guest lounge, but they had been joined by several more. Most of the Hogwarts professors had joined them and several of the close friend and family of the ex-prisoners were also around.  
  
"Did you do the spell?" Dawn asked of Willow.  
  
"Yup. Two of them have slayer energy. Luna and Emily. Emily's is relatively new energy so I think she's the one who didn't show up on the locator spell I did last summer. Either that or she wasn't actually on Hogwarts ground when I did it. Or she only just turned thirteen. Or-"  
  
"Willow, you're babbling! Shall I talk to them now?" Dawn asked nervously.  
  
"Might as well get it over and done with. Do you want Giles to go with you?"  
  
"Nah, I'll be fine. Get it over with, right?"  
  
"Right." Willow offered her 'adopted little sister' an encouraging smile as Dawn walked over to first Emily and then Luna and took them to a secluded corner to sit down.  
  
"Have you ever heard of the legend of the slayer?" She asked.  
  
"My father told me about it. It's a demon who eats non-magical humans, or that's what it was. Now it's a vegan and lives in the Rocky Mountains." Luna answered. Emily only looked confused.  
  
"Not exactly." Dawn fought back a giggle at the thought of a Buffy-demon living off dandelions and sitting in a mountain cave. "The slayer is one girl..."  
  
.............................................................................................................  
  
"She thought we were demons?! Oh my God! What did she say when you told her the truth?" Flick and Dawn were walking through the outskirts of the forbidden forest. According to Dumbledore, Voldermort and his remaining death eaters had left the forest so normal patrols were starting up again, but not too deep into the forest.  
  
"Luna took it quite well. She said she was gonna tell her father but she says he'll be fine with it. It took her a bit of convincing that slayers weren't demons, but she's pretty easy to talk round."  
  
"What about the other girl, Emma?" Flick asked, looking around for any signs of trouble.  
  
"Emily. She thought it was cool. She only turned 13 a couple of weeks ago so she just wants to be a superhero. She'll need an experienced slayer to show her the ropes..." Dawn said, hinting heavily.  
  
"No way! I'm a slayer, not a babysitter!" Flick protested.  
  
"Come on Flick, you'd make a great role model...and besides, having the newest slayer as a partner means you don't have to patrol as much in this freezing weather." Winter was setting in the United Kingdom and Scotland wasn't the warmest part of it- both the girls were freezing!  
  
"No patrols, huh? I guess I'll do it...for the good of the team, of course."  
  
"Oh, of course." Both the girls erupted into giggles and continued with their patrol.  
  
.........................................................................................................  
  
"Jade!" Flick ran to envelop her sister slayer in a hug. Her and Dawn had just returned from their very unfruitful patrol and had entered Buffy, Willow, Xander, Spike and Giles' lounge and saw Jaden back from LA (as well as the rest of the slayers and Harry, Ron and Hermione). "How are you?" Flick asked seriously.  
  
"I'm...good." Jade was stunned at her warm reception. She hadn't left on the best of terms with her friends due to her having slightly evil tendencies, but that was all better now, right?  
  
"That's great, Jade." Dawn spoke for the first time and gave the returned slayer a hug too. And that surprised Jaden even more.  
  
"Aren't you mad at me?" Jaden asked of the room.  
  
"We shouldn't have left you alone so much." Dawn said. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." Giles nodded in approval. He had spoken to Dawn and the rest of the slayers about accepting Jade back and Angel had assured them all that she was 100% not evil.  
  
Jaden looked around with a smile on her face before sitting down next to Skylar. Flick and Dawn also sat down on one of the sofas and Giles stood up and cleared his throat ready to speak.  
  
"Dawn, did you find anything on your patrol?"  
  
"Nope, Zippo. All is safe at Hogwarts."  
  
"Good...that's good. But I'm afraid Professor Snape found some disturbing news today. A prophecy which involves some people in this room. The exact translation goes as follows:  
  
_'The boy who lived should be assisted in his battle with the Snake Lord by the Key.  
  
Together they will fight the darkness; they will stand united, but fall apart.  
  
One shall live, one shall fall. Both can triumph, for they make a formidable team;  
  
But without each other, they shall surely fail.'"  
_  
Giles looked around, trying to guess everyone reaction, particularly Harry's and Dawn's.  
  
"How do we get the key?" Hermione asked, seeing that Harry was staring into space.  
  
"I'm the key." Dawn spoke quietly, but everyone heard. Buffy moved to sit by her sister's side and threw an arm round her shoulders protectively.  
  
"How?" Harry spoke, dully.  
  
"Four years ago, these monks decided to mould the key into human form and send it to the slayer so that she would protect it. They invented me out of her and then created memories for everyone so that people would think that I was really Buffy's sister."  
  
"You're not really her sister?" Hermione half stated, half questioned.  
  
"Yes, I am." Buffy said defensively. "We are by blood and it feels like we're sister so we are." Buffy glared around, daring anyone to correct her.  
  
"So, either Dawn or I will die." Harry said meeting Dawn's eyes for the first time since the prophecy was read out.  
  
"Yes." Buffy answered. "That doesn't mean you will stay dead, though. I mean a prophecy said I'd die, and I did, but I came back."  
  
"What are the chances of that happening again?" Willow said dejectedly.  
  
"About a million to one." Xander said in an equally depressed voice.  
  
"We can't give up hope." Buffy said, looking to Giles for support as usual.  
  
Harry hadn't broken eye contact with Dawn. He got up and left the room and Dawn went to follow him. "We need some time to think." Dawn told her sister as she left.  
  
Dawn caught up with Harry outside the portrait of a vampire and they walked in silence towards the grounds. The stars were twinkling above them and the couple watched them as they walked. Finally Dawn spoke.  
  
"We don't have to do it you know."  
  
"Yes we do. Well, I do."  
  
"Why? Buffy can jet us off somewhere and hide us. There are loads of wizards about to fight." Dawn pleaded.  
  
"Another prophecy says that I'm the only one who can kill Voldermort. I have to fight."  
  
"Oh. That means we fight. You kill him. I'll help and Buffy will help too... and the slayers."  
  
"You don't have to stay. I don't want to put you in danger." Harry held Dawn's hand, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.  
  
"I'm staying; and that's final. Besides dangers like my middle name." Dawn joked. "I'm not going to let this prophecy ruin things. We just won't stay dead. You heard the prophecy, we make a formidable team."  
  
"Yes, we do." Harry cupped her chin and raised it before lowering his lips to meet hers in a deep kiss.  
  
"Are you OK with this? Me being the Key and everything." Dawn asked when they parted for air.  
  
"Why shouldn't I be? Sure, I wish you'd told me earlier, but it's all in the open now." Harry smiled at her.  
  
"But I'm not real." Harry looked confused at Dawn's comment, so she clarified. "The monks just made me out of Buffy parts. Technically I'm only four years old; all my memories are fake."  
  
"Then let's make some new memories. Besides, you feel real to me." Harry grinned before leaning in for another kiss. They parted and sat for hours just kissing and looking at the stars.  
  
........................................................................................................... ...........................................................................................................  
  
I'm not sure if the formatting of this story will work so well. Fan fiction's new set up doesn't like my computer and my computer doesn't like me.  
  
I'll try and get the next chapter out soon, but I'm in the middle of my exams so it could take longer than normal. But please review! 


	17. Plans,

_**Only about 10 more chapters to go!**_  
  
Thanks to everyone who reviewed:  
  
**Blondi Gurl-** I'm glad you like how the story's going!

**matt-** Thanks for keeping on trying to review and for your suggestions/ comments.

**ADSpencer**- Thanks for reviewing and for the luck!

* * *

**CHAPTER 17- PLANS**  
  
"Rupert Giles speaking." Giles answered the especially charmed phone that Willow had given to everyone, his mind still on the recently uncovered prophecy. He was part way through marking third year essays on werewolves and was stunned at some of prejudices they had.  
  
"Ripper, old fellow! It's been too long!" A too familiar voice cracked down the phone.  
  
"Ethan Rayne." Giles acknowledged through gritted teeth. "And it hasn't been nearly long enough."  
  
Ethan gave a bark of laughter on the other end of the line. "Still the same old Ripper! Seriously though, we should meet up some time."  
  
Giles snorted. "The last time we 'met up' you turned me into a demon."  
  
"An unfortunate accident, a very unfortunate accident." Ethan said dismissively.  
  
"What did you want, Rayne." Giles asked coldly.  
  
"Just to catch up...OK, ok, you got me! How's your slayer doing?" He enquired innocently.  
  
"Buffy? Oh, I expect if she knew you had called she would hunt you down and break your legs."  
  
"Ouch! Best not tell her then, eh?" He joked, a hint of being absolutely petrified in his voice. "Right," he continued, getting no response from Giles, "I was just wondering if you'd ever head of 'The Key'. No reason really; just curious, you know."  
  
"What do you know about the Key?" Giles questioned sharply.  
  
"Ahh; so you have heard of it. Now I heard a rumour that it's under the slayer's protection; that it meant enough to her to die for it; that it is rarely far from her side; that it was activated on the old hellmouth recently. I wonder who- or what, I might say- it is." He said smugly. "The witch? The army boy? One of the vampires? You?"  
  
Giles stayed silent.  
  
"Ah well; the Dark Lord will find out soon enough, you'll see." There was a click on the end of the line and the phone went dead, leaving a panicked Giles holding the other end of the receiver.  
  
He was still holding the phone when Dawn and Buffy entered.  
  
"Hiya, Giles. You ya' talking to?" Dawn asked chirpily.  
  
"No-one." He said, placing the phone back on the hook.  
  
"Is everything OK?" Buffy asked seeing the look on her watchers face.  
  
Giles shot a meaningful look at Dawn who was thumbing through one of his spell books. "What are you looking for?"  
  
"Nothing to worry about! Just a little accident in training!" The teenager replied cheerily.  
  
Giles looked to Buffy for an explanation. "Dawnie let Jaden and Flick use their wands while they were sparring, and let's just say that Jade is stuck walking in circles until we figure out how to change her feet back."  
  
"Ah-ha! Found it!" Dawn said triumphantly before dashing out the room clutching the book to her chest.  
  
As soon as she was gone, Buffy turned back to Giles, all businesslike. "Spill." She commanded.  
  
"Get everyone else here; I'd rather only have to do this once."  
  
Buffy looked about to protest, but went and got Willow, Xander and Spike all the same. "Now, what's happening?"  
  
Giles took a cloth out of his desk draw and started cleaning his glasses. Buffy clicked her tongue impatiently and Giles started to speak.  
  
"I'm afraid it's bad news. I was contacted today by Ethan Rayne."  
  
"The one who turned us into our Halloween costumes, turned all the adults into kids and made you all demon-y?" Xander inquired.  
  
"Yes." Giles almost snapped  
  
"Just making sure I got the right one of your 'friends'" Xander retorted, complete with air quotes.  
  
Giles glared at him. "Yes, well he contacted me to ask for information. It seems he is a death eater now; I didn't even know he was a wizard, but it explained what his father was 'home teaching' him." Giles mused.  
  
"Information on what?" Buffy asked, already knowing the answer.  
  
"The key. All he knows is that it is something to do with Buffy and that she is...attached to it."  
  
"Attached to it? She's my sister!" Buffy cried.  
  
"Yes, but he doesn't know that, and we have to make sure he doesn't find out. We have to tell Dawn not to use her magic unless it is absolutely necessary, I don't know if it can be traced. I think he knows it is a person; he didn't guess Dawn, but he did try everyone else."  
  
"So what do we do now?" Willow asked, sounding slightly fearful. If anything happened to Dawn, she didn't know what she'd do. Willow might have control over her everyday magic use, but could she cope if someone else she loved died?  
  
"We keep her safe." Spike said, speaking for the first time. "We do everything we can to make sure they can't find Niblet."

* * *

A few days after 'we were screwed over by a prophecy' as Dawn put it, everything had settled down into some kind of equilibrium. The slayers, both old and new, had begun training again. This time without so much secrecy and, due to recent events, without using magic.  
  
It seemed when it came to acting oblivious, the Hogwarts students were as good at it as the former Sunnydale civilians and the pupils were willing to overlook the fact that five girls helped to fight off death eaters without using magic and the aforementioned girls' mainly-muggle friends are now staying at Hogwarts after rescuing the hostages of the nearly forgotten battle.  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione had started working on their defence against the dark arts harder than ever and the Scooby's had all decided to stay at Hogwarts until further notice after receiving and invitation from Professor Dumbledore.  
  
Dawn walked into the common room and saw Harry just finishing a game of wizarding chess with Ron. He lost. Badly.  
  
"Oh Harry! It's time for training!" she said in a sing-song voice.  
  
He groaned. "Not again! I just trained a couple of days ago!"  
  
"Hey, it was your idea; not mine. Now move!" she prodded him in the back to get him to stand.  
  
Ron was shaking with laughter. "Dawn; I never knew you were so bossy!"  
  
"It's just one of the things I love about her." Harry smiled and kissed her soundly on the lips.  
  
"You're _so_ trying to distract me." Dawn said when they parted.  
  
Harry smirked. "Is it working?"  
  
Dawn fought hard to keep her face stern, but she couldn't stop the smile. "Maybe."  
  
Hermione, Ginny and Flick entered the common room with Dean, one of the few people who saw what was truly happening in the school. "Hey Guys!"  
  
"Have you spoken to Buffy?" Ginny asked, flopping down on the sofa.  
  
"Yes; she didn't tell me anything." Dawn pouted.  
  
They had all got the impression that there was something that they weren't being told. Giles had got a phone call, he wouldn't say from whom, and since then he had been all jittery and the rest of the Scooby's had been half worried and half scared. The 'scrappie's' as they had been fondly dubbed by Xander, had all tried to find out the big secret, but the Scooby's weren't talking.  
  
"But I have an idea." Dawn continued. "Tonight, I overheard Giles saying the aurors were checking 'it' out in the forest. I think a couple of us should go and find out what 'it' is."  
  
"I don't think it's a very good idea." Hermione said cautiously. "If we were to get caught..." she trailed off.  
  
"What about the rest of you? Ron? Ginny? Flick?" She grinned and slid over to Harry. Wrapping her arms around him she murmured into his ear, "Harry?"  
  
Harry's face heated up as he felt Dawn's breath against him. "I-I don't know, Dawn" he stuttered.  
  
Ron couldn't contain himself, he started laughing full-force and had to walk away before he started rolling around on the floor. A moment later Dean joined him.  
  
Dawn still didn't break away from Harry. She continued to gaze up at him with a shy smile on her face. "Please, Harry?" She pleaded. She pressed her lips lightly against his mouth. "Please, for me." Harry blushed.  
  
Stammering he mumbled, "Sure, okay."  
  
Nearby Ron and Dean went off into another fit of howling laughter. Dawn peeled herself off of Harry and excused herself. A moment later Ron exclaimed, "Hey, ow," followed shortly by Dean saying the exact same thing.  
  
This time, it was Harry's turn to laugh.

* * *

That night, Harry and Dawn were walking soundlessly along the dark corridors. It had been decided that Flick and Ginny would go on patrol and meet up with Harry and Dawn, who would bring the invisibility coat with them.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore isn't going to like this. Neither will your sister. We probably should have told them." Harry said in a low voice.  
  
"Why would they mind? All we are doing is assisting the aurors in their enquiries." Dawn replied choosing her words very carefully.  
  
"Do they know you're assisting them?" Professor Dumbledore who appeared behind a statue in that spooky way he does. "I think my line at this point is 'tell me what?'"  
  
"Nothing." Dawn said a little too quickly, trying, and failing, to smile innocently.  
  
"We were just going out on a patrol, sir." Harry said seeing Dumbledore's disbelieving look.  
  
"Very well; be careful and tell Miss Weasly and Miss Newton the same." He vanished back behind the statue as mysteriously as he had appeared.  
  
"Well that was weird." Dawn commented as they went on their way.  
  
They met up with Ginny and Flick on the outskirts of the forest and followed them much deeper in to where the aurors were. They were outside the grounds of Hogwarts now, and Dawn heard a very familiar voice.  
  
"...I tell you, he knows of the relationship the key has with the slayer!"  
  
"Mr Giles, I can assure you that we are doing everything we can, but if you won't tell us who the key actually is, then how do you expect us to protect it?"  
  
"I've already told you, I cannot disclose that sort of information. Ethan Rayne is an old associate of mine and he contacted me to find the whereabouts of the key! He will discover it soon." Giles ranted.  
  
"And we will do everything we can to stop that, but you have to face reality, Mr Giles; if this death eater knows of the key's connection with the slayer and knows that it was in America until recently and further knows that it is currently residing at Hogwarts, then I'm afraid it is just a matter of time before he works it out. I'm sorry." The auror apperated out of the forest, the others close behind him.  
  
"You can come out now." Giles said without turning around.  
  
"How did you know we were there?" Flick asked.  
  
"Dawn wasn't the only one who had her powers boosted by Willow's spell." Was his only explanation. "We'll talk about this back at the school."  
  
"So Ethan Rayne, as in the one who turned you into a demon; knows that the key is one of us." Dawn stated when they were all seated in the Scooby common room. Giles nodded- would no-one ever forget about the demon thing? Dawn wasn't even invented then and even she wouldn't let it rest! "And he's a death eater?" Giles nodded again. "How long do we have?"  
  
Giles cleaned his glasses, again. "A week at most, I should think. Ethan may not be the brightest person alive, but he's not stupid either."  
  
"So we wait. And then we fight. And then someone dies. And we all live happily ever after." Dawn dead panned.  
  
No-one corrected her.  
  
"Well; it seems, for now, the best thing we can do is prepare and keep a very close eye on Dawn and Harry." Giles said.  
  
"And wait for them to attack us?" Buffy asked.  
  
Giles nodded slowly. "This isn't like with the First, Buffy; we don't know where the death eaters are going to be...and we don't have a magical scythe to help us."  
  
"Well, we do; but I don't think it'll be much use." Flick pointed out.  
  
"What we need is to stop them doing magic." Xander said thoughtfully.  
  
"And that would help, _how_?" Buffy asked sarcastically.  
  
"Because we can beat 'em hands down on the physical side of things. Shame the scythe only gives power not takes it away." He crammed a doughnut into his mouth, spraying crumbs as he finished speaking.  
  
"Xander, that's genius!" Giles exclaimed.  
  
"Well _duh_! ...What was?" Xander asked, totally clueless of his brilliant idea.  
  
"If the scythe has the ability to grant power, then it must be able to take it away! Where else would it get its power if it kept on giving it away?" Several blank faces looked back at him. "Look at it this way; Buffy's hairdryer gives out the power to dry her hair, but it has to be powered by something to do that. The scythe gives out a tremendous amount of power, so it must be powered by something."  
  
"So if we could find out what that power source was, and change it to magical energy, then we could take all the death eaters magical ability." Willow said understanding.  
  
"Why would we use the death eaters' magic to power Buffy's hairdryer?" Xander asked, still confused.  
  
"Not to power Buffy's hairdryer, to power the scythe." Willow explained affectionately.  
  
"Oh...but won't that mean that the scythe is evil? 'Cause it'll be powered by evil energy." Faces dropped at Xander's words.  
  
"It shouldn't be a problem if the wielder is good." Giles said, turning the idea over in his head, a slow smile creeping across his face. "Yes, I actually think it might work."

* * *

It's quite short, but I wanted to get something out and this is all I had time for, sorry! **_Please Review! _**


	18. and Preparations

_Sorry for the long wait!!!_ Thanks to everyone who reviewed:

**BlondiGirl:** I'm glad you like the idea; I wasn't sure if people would, so it's good to know.

**VLD:** Who says something's goona go wrong? [_smiles innocently]_ Nothing ever goes wrong in fan fic!

**Mademoiselle Morte:** Poor old Giles! I feel sorry for him.

**LaRoseMinuit:** Glad you liked the chapter and thanks sooo much for reviewing!

**matt:** Thanks for reviewing, as always. I'm glad you're still reading the story!

**buffy13-buffyspike4eva:** I'm glad you like it. I'm thinking you've seen that Maccy D's ad to many times! :-)  
  
**A/N:** Sorry about a) the poor songs and b) the poor grammar on the songs- I had to mould the words a bit for them to fit! Also, the first two songs are completely my own, but Harry's is a re-write of 'Standing in the way' (because I got stuck).  
  
**CHAPTER 18- PREPARATIONS**  
  
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap-tap, tap, tap, tap, tap-tap, tap-  
  
"Buffy!" Giles finally cried.  
  
Buffy stopped hitting the table with her pen and grinned around sheepishly. "Sorry."  
  
Buffy, Giles, Willow and Xander had all gone into major research mode. They were trying to figure out: a) more about Voldermort and his plan and b) how to put the best plan they had so far (the scythe energy transfer thing) into action. They hadn't got very far.  
  
"Oh no!" Xander exclaimed suddenly, dropping his doughnut,  
  
"What?" Willow asked, worried at her friends dismayed tone.  
  
"It says that Dawn is going to be- oh wait...my bad! It doesn't say what I thought it said!"  
  
"Xander!" Buffy groaned. "You've got to stop doing this! First it was the cookery book incident when you thought Dawn was going to be roasted; then you spilt coffee on an ancient Samarian text and now this!"  
  
"So I've had a couple of mix ups!" Xander said defensively. "You were the one who threw out Willow's 'useful research pile' and then _I_ had to search through all the bins until I found it!"  
  
"Well at least it was still readable, unlike some peoples screw ups!" Buffy countered.  
  
"Guys," Willow interrupted their little bickering session. "We've got to concentrate. Dawn's life literally depends on it!"  
  
"She's right; sorry Buff."  
  
"Me too. Giles, do you still want me to come to your dada class?"  
  
Giles looked up from the book he was reading. "Hmm? Oh, yes; I think it will be very beneficial to the class to hear of some of your... escapades."  
  
"Right, whatever. Then let's go!" She dragged Giles towards the door. "Hey, can I do the 'into each generation' speech? You always get to do it."  
  
"That's because you never remember it." Giles said irritably as the portrait swung closed behind them.  
  
Willow shook her head in amusement before frowning slightly. "Hey, have you seen Spike recently?"

* * *

Dawn was sitting in her potions class. She didn't really know why Giles and Buffy made her keep going to classes; there was a fifty -fifty chance that she wouldn't see her next birthday and surely there are better things to do with one's time that to be able to brew a potion that makes a rat sing!  
  
As Dawn stirred her potion absentmindedly, a puff of green smoke erupted from Neville's cauldron, followed by a loud bang and several shrieks as the students near to poor Neville dived for cover.  
  
She was feeling guilty. Or at least, that was the nearest emotion there was to what she felt. Dawn didn't want to die. But by that she was wishing that Harry would die over her. And if Harry died before destroying Voldermort then that would mean that hundreds more people would die at the hands of the wicked sorcerer. And on top of that, she didn't think she could cope if Harry was the one who died. Why did things have to be so hard?  
  
Dawn blinked back the tears that were threatening. Is this what Buffy felt whenever she fought an apocalypse? After all, in the three apocalyptic battles that she had actually been real for she hadn't exactly played a major part (unless you count being bled at the top of a tower; and that happened to fast for her to register emotions).  
  
Dawn, still stirring her potion, mused over her thoughts. She was so busy musing that she didn't read the label on the bottle she picked up and accidentally added basil to her potion (wizards often used herbs and spices in their potions). Needles to say the bubbling liquid exploded, as all potions do, and covered herself, Harry and Jade in the potion.  
  
"Miss Summers! What did you do?" Snape roared from across the classroom where he was still mopping up Neville's mess.  
  
"Nothing! I, oh..." Dawn picked up the small bottle lying next to the cauldron and peered at the label. "I added basil."  
  
Snape thought for a moment and then smirked. "Who got the potion on them?"  
  
Several hands went up. "I don't mean a few spots, Granger, I mean who was covered in the potion?" Snape snapped irritably.  
  
Everyone stared at Harry, Jaden and Dawn and Professor Snape's smirk widened as he locked his eyes on Harry's green, smouldering robes. "You'll see the effects in approximately half an hour. Class dismissed!" He strode out the classroom, his cloak billowing out behind him leaving three very anxious students in his wake.

* * *

"Do you think we'll grow horns?"  
  
"Or maybe we'll be covered in boils!"  
  
"No, it could be a personality swap!"  
  
Flick grinned. All three of the potion-covered-students had had a free period next, so they had retreated to the Scooby common room where they had bumped into Willow and Xander briefly before they left to look for Spike, much to Xander's dismay.  
  
Flick had joined them also having a free and had watched in amusement as they three students counted down the minutes until they would feel the effects, each speculating on what might happen.  
  
A beeping sound went off from the alarm Harry had rigged up. Everyone held their breath. After about a minute Dawn spoke.  
  
"Well I don't _feel_ any different. Do I look normal?"  
  
Harry gave her the once over. "You look great."  
  
"Thank God! Maybe Snape was exaggerating."  
  
But then Jaden did something that had everyone frozen still. She started singing to a lilting melody; not to a tune any of them knew, she seemed to be making it up as she went along.  
  
_"Drawn to the darkness, away from the light; _

_Will I become what my friends would die to fight? _

_They say that I'm not evil, but that doesn't mean I'm good, _

_I just wanna be one of them and do what I should...  
_

_-  
To fight away the demons; _

_To know deep in my heart, _

_That I have made a difference _

_And that I have played a part.  
_

_  
-  
How can I fight it? How can I fight my dark? _

Can I start afresh and try all this hero lark?

I know I want to do it, but can I truly be

A champion of the powers? Can that really be me?

-

The darkness may be coming, 

But I will stay with you.

There may be no power here,

But it's what I want to do.

-

I have to fight away MY demons, 

And look into my heart.

And I will make a difference;

I will play my part."  
  
There was nothing but silence when Jade finished singing. Nobody moved; nobody spoke.  
  
Flick cleared her throat. "Umm I don't suppose Xander has summoned any more singing demons?" She asked Dawn, having heard the story of Sweet many times.  
  
Dawn shook her head slowly, still staring at Jade. Jaden started backing up until she reached the portrait hole and then turned and fled out of the common room.  
  
"I'll go after her." Flick offered, already halfway to the exit.  
  
When she had gone, Dawn turned to Harry. "Harry," she tried to say, but it came out as a song.  
  
_"I don't know what we should do? _

_I don't want to die, I want to exist. _

_I think that I've fallen in love with you _

_And I couldn't bear to keep living here, _

_Without you living too.  
_

_-  
I don't want to have to deal _

_With this 'thing' right now; to choose if I live, _

_And I'm just energy; I'm not even real! _

_But you have changed all of that for me; _

_You can make me feel._

_-  
  
I can't do it, can't you see? _

_Only alive 'cause you had given your life. _

_Living in deaths shadow, not being free _

_My dreams forever haunted by your face. _

_I want it to be me."_  
-

Again there was that dreadful silence, until it was Harry's turn to sing.  
  
_"I'm not ready  
  
For you or me to die.  
  
I keep pretending,  
  
But I just can't hide.  
  
I know I said that I'd  
  
Be standing by your side  
  
But I _

_  
-  
Our path's unbeaten,  
  
And it's all uphill.  
  
And we can meet it,  
  
And we always will.  
  
I just want to keep standing still  
  
And I _

_-_

I wish I could say, the right words,  
  
To make this go away.  
  
Wish I could play the hero,

And then we both could stay.  
  
Wish I could stop this;  
  
But all I can do is pray,

That we'll see another day.

-

One has to die and  
  
There's nothing I can do.  
  
But you know I'm here;  
  
I'll stay with you.  
  
Won't let you can't leave me;  
  
I just wish it wasn't true.  
  
And I

-

I wish we could,

Get this over;  
  
Then we will rest at last.  
  
Wish I could, Slay the demons  
  
But now that time has passed.  
  
Wish we could both live;  
  
And that dream has gone to fast.  
  
So now I want it to be me.

Yes I want it, to be me."  
  
They both sat there; neither knowing how to react.  
  
"I've gotta say, I'm kinda relieved." Dawn said breaking the silence. At Harry's quizzical expression she explained. "No horns, no spots, still the same colour. Definite plus points."  
  
Harry offered her a smile. "Definitely. What I said...sung; I don't-"  
  
"Shhh. It doesn't matter. We can't do anything about it."  
  
"Anything about what?" A certain blond slayer bounded over having finished speaking to Giles' defence class.  
  
"Nothing." Harry and Dawn said simultaineously.  
  
Buffy raised one eyebrow and gave them a look that clearly said 'yeah right'. They were saved, or so they thought, by Willow rushing into the Scooby common room closely followed by Xander.  
  
"Dawnie! Are you OK? Professor Snape said you had an accident with a potion!" She exclaimed.  
  
"What? Are you aright?" Buffy asked concerned.  
  
"We're fine." Dawn assured her.  
  
"Are you sure?" Xander ran his good eye over Dawn and Harry. "Professor Snape said there would be a side effect...You haven't grown tails or swapped personality traits or anything, have you?"  
  
"No; we're not on the hellmouth anymore, guys, people don't turn into demons here." Dawn said with a roll of her eyes.  
  
"Well, not that much, anyway." Harry injected.  
  
"Not helping!" Dawn muttered through the corner of her mouth.  
  
"So what was the side effect?" Willow asked, amused by their actions.  
  
Dawn and Harry shared a glance. "Well, the potion was to make a rat sing and, erm, you remember Sweet, right?" Xander flinched at the glares he received from Buffy and Willow. "I take it that you do then. The potion had the same affect on us as that did."  
  
Buffy grinned. "So you all started singing? Has it worn off? What did you sing about?"  
  
"Yes, yes and none of your damn business."  
  
"What about you Harry, what did you sing about?" Buffy asked finding the whole thing highly entertaining.  
  
"I, erm, I sang about the prophecy." He revealed quietly.  
  
The mood sobered up immediately. "Me too." Dawn admitted.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Why do you think?" Dawn snapped. "It's pretty much the main thing on our minds at the mind at the moment. I mean we've each got a fifty percent chance of surviving and both of us would rather it be ourselves than..."Dawn trailed off, realising what she had given away.  
  
"What do you mean you want it to be you?" Buffy asked stonily.  
  
"Nothing, forget I said it."  
  
"I can't do that. What did you mean?"  
  
Dawn stepped closer to Harry and slipped her hand in his. "We love each other." She said simply.  
  
"What? No you don't, you're only 17!"  
  
"I'll be 18 in the summer!"  
  
"Dawn; it may feel like love, but it isn't. You're too young to be in love!" Buffy tried to reason.  
  
"How can you say that? You were younger than us when you fell in love with Angel! Are you saying that's not real?" Dawn accused.  
  
"That was different!"  
  
"How? It was exactly the same and you know it!"  
  
"Fine, maybe you do love him, but the prophecy has nothing to do with that! You can't choose who dies! It's foretold or something, right?" Buffy looked to Willow.  
  
"Umm, yes." Willow said regrettably. "It's a prophecy; there's very little wiggle room in it."  
  
Dawn slumped down in one of the sofas, pulling Harry down next to her. "We didn't say we want to choose. We said that neither one of us wants to die."  
  
The tears that had been threatening to fall over the last couple of days finally spilt over. Buffy immediately gathered her sister into a hug and whispered soothingly to her.  
  
Harry, feeling very awkward, shuffled towards the doorway. He paused on the way to speak to Xander.  
  
"Tell Dawn-"  
  
He cut Harry off with an understanding nod of his head. And the young wizard crept out the room leaving Dawn with her family. So who was he supposed to go to? His parents and Sirius were dead. There was no-one left.  
  
Buffy was still holding Dawn close when she heard a muffled squeak.  
  
"What was that sweetie?" She asked gently.  
  
"I don't want to die." A tiny voice said.  
  
"Hush, it'll be alright, everything will be ok." Buffy repeated over and over trying to calm her sister.  
  
But it wouldn't be alright; how could it ever be alright again?

* * *

Another chapter done! Next time, lots of Jaden and what she's feeling.  
  
I'll try to get it up quicker, but I've still got a few AS exams to do. (Is anyone else doing 14 exams?)  
  
Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please REVIEW!!!!!! 


	19. Dancing Fire

Thanks to all the reviewers:  
  
**ADSpencer:** A short review is miles better than no review and is VERY much appreciated. Glad you like the story; hope you keep liking it!  
  
**LaRoseMinuit:** I changed the spelling you picked up on and a couple of others that I noticed. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Silver Warrior:** I feel sorry for them, but I'm still gonna kill one of them! Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
  
**Blondi gurl:** Thanks for reviewing! Reviews make me write faster and you've responded a lot; I'm grateful for people like you.  
  
**Akalea:** Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you're finding it interesting and somewhat surprised that people read the review beg at the end of each chappie!  
  
**Buffy the slayer:** Yup, Harry's lyrics were amended from Once More With Feeling, but the rest were my own. Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**Matt:** The embarrassing singing chapter is a necessity in fanfic! Thanks for reviewing so regularly; it's really good to know that someone out there is reading this and keeps coming back for more! Also, and I'm sure I can talk for all of those doing exams, thanks you for thinking of us at the moment.  
  
**Jess:** Thanks for the compliment and the review! I was a bit worried about the singing bit, but the positive feedback made me feel a lot better!  
  
**Vld:** I didn't kill Robinette, I just sent her to a better place :-) And you're right about it all going wrong, but hey, no-one's life is perfect, and what's a little death and destruction between friends? Thanks for reviewing!  
  
Wow! That's a lot of review responses! I've just got a quick note before I start the chap:

* * *

**A/N:** AFTER THE FLASHBACK this carries straight on from Jaden's bit in the last chapter last chapter. This means Jade had just sung about her doubts on her evil-ness and rushed from the Scooby common room with Flick following her.  
  
**CHAPTER 19- DANCING FIRE**  
  
_FLASHBACK: FIRST DAY OF TERM  
  
"Mormon, Jaden!" Professor McGonagall called.  
  
['Another slayer,' the sorting hat said softly to Jade, 'but, unlike Miss Chardon, you crave power. It better be...']  
  
The hat barely touched her head before it shouted "Slytherin!" Jade saw Dawn and Felicity share a look and she felt a pang of doubt. They'd all heard about Slytherin and it couldn't be a good sign that a slayer was in that house.  
  
Jaden joined her house apprehensively. A blond boy gestured for her to sit down next to him so she sat in-between him and a girl who looked like she'd been hit round the head with a frying pan one too many times.  
  
Blondie introduced himself as Draco and frying-pan-face was Pansy (who kept on glaring at her).  
  
"So you're an exchange student?" Draco said with one eyebrow raised.  
  
"Yup; that's me; from Salem School." It was then that he noticed her accent.  
  
"You're American!" He stated; his voice half disgusted, half curious.  
  
"I had noticed." Jade grinned.  
  
Draco seemed to assess his housemates' reaction before smiling with her.  
  
Later that evening, Jade sat in the common room pondering over her quick conversation with Dawn. Not only was she in the worst house, but the most welcoming housemate was apparently the most evil one.  
  
"Penny for 'em."  
  
Jaden jumped despite her slayer healing abilities. "Draco! It's not important."  
  
"You were pretty deep in thought." He said flashing his most charming smile.  
  
"It was, ah screw it, are you evil?"  
  
"Umm no?"  
  
"Are you sure? Because everyone says you are."  
  
"I'm sure. And I bet it was St. Potter who told you that. Listen, you're going to hear some bad stuff about a lot of the Slytherin's but most of it isn't true, alright?" Sincerity rang in his eyes and voice.  
  
"I believe you."  
  
"Good...Oh and one more thing; you should try and stay away from the Gryffindor's." He warned  
  
"Why? They're my friends."  
  
"They're Gryffindor's; our enemies!" He ranted.  
  
Jaden's only response was to roll her eyes and, when she went to talk to Dawn the next morning, to shoot Draco a smug glance.  
  
END FLASHBACK _

* * *

Jaden ran though the hallways. How could she have sung that? She hadn't even admitted what she was feeling to herself yet, let alone proclaiming it to her friends; if they were still her friends after what she said. She practically said that she was evil!  
  
As Jade ran towards the Slytherin dorms, her eyes blurred from the tears, she wasn't looking where she was going and ran strait into a tall, muscular body.  
  
"Hey there. What's up Jay?" A cool voice said.  
  
"Draco." The young slayer sobbed, flinging her arms around his neck.  
  
"Hush it's alright; why don't you tell me what's the matter?" He said stoking her back soothingly.  
  
"The potion...and Dawn...Harry...prophecy...all screwed up!" Was all he could manage to gather from her sobbing.  
  
"Err, right." Draco said a flash of annoyance on his face for a moment. "Why don't we talk about this in the common room?" He lead her in though the portrait hole and into the cold common room.  
  
"Now why don't you start from-"  
  
He was interrupted by a loud banging from the other side of the portrait. "Jade! Jaden; are you there?"  
  
"It's Flick." Jade whispered. "I don't want to speak to her right now."  
  
Draco masked his confusion before nodding and stepping quickly out the Slytherin quarters.  
  
"Let me in, Malfoy. I have to speak to my friend!" Flick said angrily.  
  
"No can do. Jaden doesn't want to talk to any of you right now and you're not coming in here until she says so."  
  
"Like you could stop me. I know you know what we're capable of." Flick scoffed.  
  
"I know that you could beat me to a bloody pulp without batting an eyelid, but how would that help your cause? You still don't know the password."  
  
Felicity opened her mouth to she something, thought about it, and then shut it again.  
  
"I too am Jaden's friend; and I will not let any harm come to her. You have my word." He assured the slayer who looked at him as if trying to guess if he was telling the truth.  
  
"Fine, just tell her...that it's OK and that she'll always be one of us."  
  
Draco nodded slowly, a question in his eyes, but Flick offered no explanation before leaving. Draco waited until he couldn't hear her footfalls before whispering the password and returning to Jade.  
  
The young slayers tear streaked face looked up at him. "Did she say anything?"  
  
"She said a lot. Nothing you need to worry about though." He said; his eyes blank of emotion. He shook himself. "So are you gonna tell me what's bothering you?"  
  
"It's nothing; you'd just think I was being stupid."  
  
"Try me." Draco smirked.  
  
Jaden looked up; her hazel eyes meeting his icy blue ones. "You saw what happened in potions; well there was a side effect. It made us sing out our most private thoughts. I sung about ...what I told you the other night."  
  
_FLASHBACK  
  
"Do you think I am?"  
  
"You are what?"  
  
"What if I'm not, though?"  
  
"Not what?"  
  
"Evil!" Jaden said exasperated.  
  
"Rubbish. I've met evil; you've met evil; and you're not it." Draco said lazily.  
  
"Are you sure?" She asked doubtfully. "What about what the sorting hat said; I crave power. What if I'd do anything to get it?"  
  
"Nah; you wouldn't do anything drastic. You think too much to end the world or anything like that."  
  
"Yea; maybe the hat was wrong." Jade said relieved.  
  
"I didn't say that. You could crave power. I could crave power, doesn't mean I'm gonna do anything about it. Or you could crave good power. Like your watcher; she wreaks of power but the good kind. That's it; you wanna prove yourself and get the good power. I'm almost certain of it."  
  
Jade gave him a half smile as he changed that conversation._ _Almost_ _wasn't certain.  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
_"Jade they're your friends I'm sure they won't think you're evil and try to kill you." Draco said casually.  
  
"Kill me?" Jade squeaked.  
  
"So what else is bothering you?" Draco asked, swiftly changing the subject.  
  
"Nothing." She sighed, not very convincingly.  
  
"Right I can tell because you're totally acting like yourself." Draco deadpanned.  
  
She graced him with a slight smile before considering. "Drake; if I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell anyone else. No-one, I mean it!"  
  
"OK, what?" Draco enquired slowly.  
  
"Well...there's a prophecy." Jaden paused.  
  
"Yes, and?"  
  
"It say that Harry will defeat Voldermort, it's only a name Draco, with someone's help."  
  
"Whose?" Draco asked his eyes wide.  
  
"Dawn's. And Voldermort knows about the prophecy and one of them is going to die and you can't tell anyone." She babbled.  
  
"I won't; you have my word."  
  
"Thanks." Jaden said very seriously.

* * *

Flick wandered slowly back towards the Scooby Common room, wondering what Harry and Dawn had sung about.  
  
When she was about half way back, she saw a person walking towards the quiditch field. She followed them at a distance; watching as whomever it was pulled out their wand and muttered a charm that summoned his or her broomstick.  
  
The moment they pushed off into the air and started zooming over the pitch, Flick knew that it was Harry. She had seen several quiditch games over the months that they had been at Hogwarts and no-one could pull off the stunts that Harry did. Flick settled down in the stands to watch him and wait for him.  
  
It was about an hour and a half before Harry came down and jumped off his broom. He looked towards the great hall and saw the candle's lit and heard the quiet murmur of people talking in the distance. It may have only been six thirty, but the December weather meant that it was already dark and close to freezing.  
  
Harry made his way to the edge of the pitch when he saw a bundle huddles in the stands.  
  
"Flick?" He gently shook the 'bundle' awake. "What are you doing here? You must be frozen!"  
  
"Nah, slayer bonus!" She bragged rubbing her eyes. "Aren't you cold, though? How long have you been out here?"  
  
"Nah, wizard bonus!" He replied. "And I've been out here about an hour and a half."  
  
"Why?" She asked as they started back to the castle.  
  
"Dawn needed some time." Harry said looking straight in front of him.  
  
"And what about you. The whole singing thing must have been hard on everyone, not to mention the prophecy."  
  
"I'm fine." He said not too convincingly.  
  
"Yea; and I'm the Queen of Sheba. Come on, Harry, there's obviously something wrong." Harry didn't say anything. "Is it Dawn? Friend stuff? The singing? The prophecy?"  
  
"I'm fine." He ground out.  
  
"OK, so it's the prophecy. I don't blame you, if I found out that...anyway I'd be pretty upset."  
  
Harry stayed silent for another moment. "I guess." He finally said.  
  
"You are not going to make this easy for me are you? Look; I know we haven't been the best of friends and there are probable a million people you'd rather share with, but I'm here and they're not, so start sharing." Flick commanded.  
  
Harry chuckled slightly. "You'd be surprised. I used to be able to talk to Ron or Hermione about everything; but we've drifted apart. They spend time together as a couple and then it's the whole three's a crowd thing, and then I spend time with Dawn. I guess we don't have so much time anymore."  
  
"You could always make time. Dawn wouldn't mind and I'm sure Ron and Hermione wouldn't mind doing stuff as a threesome- that came out wrong, but you know what I mean."  
  
"Yeah. You're pretty good at this." Harry commented as they continued back to the castle.  
  
"Pretty good? I'm amazing!"

* * *

That evening, Harry was sitting in the common room. Ron and Hermione clambered through the portrait hole and sat down on the sofa opposite him.  
  
"Flick said you wanted to talk to us." Hermione started.  
  
"I bet she bloody did." Harry muttered with a roll of his eyes.  
  
"Anything we should know about?" Ron asked with one auburn eyebrow raised.  
  
"Nah; we just don't spend much time together anymore."  
  
"I know," all three were silent for a moment, none knowing what to say. "Did you hear about Umbridge?"  
  
Harry wrinkled his nose at the mention of his former 'teacher'. "No, what?"  
  
"She's gone nuts! She was supposed to visit Hogwarts again, but apparently she didn't know about the thestrals. She could hear the hooves but didn't know where they were coming from and had some kind of fit or breakdown or something. She's only seeing a bloody shrink!" Ron said triumphantly.  
  
"Ron,"Hermione chided, "well, I guess she did bring it on herself." She continued after Harry and Ron sent her death glares.

* * *

Ron and Harry had been playing wizarding chess in the common room since Hermione had gone to bed.  
  
"We should do this more often." Harry said.  
  
"We really should...checkmate!" Ron said smugly. "I'm gonna head up to bed now, are you coming?" He yawned.  
  
"In a bit."  
  
"Want me to wait for you?" Ron offered.  
  
"No, I'll only be a minute. See ya tomorrow."  
  
After he had gone, Harry looked into the flickering flames of the fire. He heard the portrait hole grate open and looked round to see who it was. It was Dawn.  
  
"Are you ok?" He asked.  
  
"I'm fine, you?" Harry nodded so she continued. "Good. Thanks for letting me have some space earlier. I kinda needed something away from the craziness of everything."  
  
"Me too." Harry admitted.  
  
Dawn snuggled up beside him on the sofa and he put his arm around her. They both watched the fire dance for a minute or so.  
  
"I heard once, that watching a flame was one of the most intoxicating things you can do." Harry said softly.  
  
"Mmm." Dawn responded comfortably.  
  
They sat together for a while longer; just enjoying each others company until Dawn leant over and gave Harry a passionate kiss.  
  
"Wow." He gasped when they pulled apart. "What was that for?"  
  
"Just 'cause. Why; do I need a reason?"  
  
"Never." He said pulling her back in and letting his hands explore her body.

* * *

"Well? Have you discovered anything?" The Dark Lord hissed.

"Yes; my Lord. It came to my attention that there is a prophecy regarding Potter and the Key."

"I already know that." Voldermort said, his voice taking a deadly tone.

"I know who the key is. Her name is Dawn Summers and she is the sister of this generation's original Vampire Slayer."

Voldermort started laughing manically. "We've got them, we've got them."

* * *

One chapter closer to the end folks! I finish my exams on Weds the 21st, so expect the next chapter around the 25th. 

Writers tip: Next time you're bored, you really should watch a fire- it dances and is great for thinking, it helped with this chapter!   
  
Until then please review; whether it's two words or twenty, everything is appreciated and gives me inspiration.


	20. Traitor

Thanks to all the reviewers:

**Celtic Babe/ Elven Bride:** Thank you for pointing out the errors, I have changed them to what it should be. I'll try harder in the future! Thanks for reading and reviewing.

**Nikinoksnix:** I've changed the errors you mentioned, thanks for that. It has been a while since I read the books so there was bound to be a few mistakes. I'm glad the story isn't boring and that you gave it a chance. Good luck with your Harry/ Dawn story, I'm sure you can think of a great plot and no, i don't think you are cut out to be evil!

**Buffy the Slayer**: One will die (not saying who) but they wont be brought back like Buffy was. That is for three reasons. 1) Willow wouldn't want to use dark magix again, 2) The last urn of oriris broke and 3) It didn't end so well last time and no-one would want to do that again. Thanks for reviewing!

**Anthony R:** Thanks for reading and reviewing and I'm glad you like the story.

**matt:** Maybe it wasn't Draco...see end of chap notes. Ripping someones heart out, now there's an idea... I might use the date thing in a couple of chaps or at the end, I like the idea though. Exams are over, yay! Thanks for reviewing.

**LaRoseMinuit : **See the note at the end of the chapter for traitor info. Thanks sooo much for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you like the story.

**blondi gurl:** I hope I didn't make you wait too long and that you like the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing!

I've borrowed some lines from various episodes here. Don't sue me for it, pretty please with cherries on top!

**A/N:** This chap would have been out sooner; but I had a little ficlet on my mind and had to get that out before I finished this chappie. Sorry!  
  
**CHAPTER 20- TRAITOR**  
  
"...there is a prophecy regarding Potter and the Key."  
  
"I already know that." Voldermort said, his voice taking a deadly tone.  
  
"I know who the key is; I've met her more than once but I didn't know of her importance until a friend mentioned her and the prophecy.  
  
"Her name is Dawn Summers and she is the sister of this generation's original Vampire Slayer."  
  
Voldermort started laughing manically. "We've got them, we've got them."  
  
The servant backed out of the throne room and removed their mask to reveal two eyes, as hard as ice and blank of any emotion.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"This is it, guys. The scythe we used to activate all you potentials." Buffy said to the crowded room.  
  
She had gathered all the students who knew what was happening (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Jade, Flick, Skye, Luna, Emily and Dawn) and all the Scooby's were there as well as a fair number of teachers.  
  
"Wow." Felicity awed. "Can I play with it?"  
  
Buffy smirked before tossing the scythe to the young slayer who caught it and started swinging it around.  
  
The group watched her for a moment before turning back to Buffy. But their attention was soon diverted back to Flick. She had knocked a vase off its pedestal and it fell to the floor with a satisfying smash!  
  
"Oops! My bad!" She said sheepishly.  
  
Professor Dumbledore cleaned up the mess with a swish of his wand and Flick quietly sat in between Dawn and Jaden.  
  
"OK; the reason I called this meeting was so that we could let you know what's going on. Giles?" Buffy said.  
  
Giles cleaned his glasses before speaking, oblivious to the eye rolls and sniggers his actions were getting from half the room.  
  
"Quite right. I believe everyone here knows of our plan to cast an incantation on the scythe so that it will 'suck out' all the magic from the death eaters; however this is proving more difficult than we expected.  
  
"So far we have been able to use the scythe to draw the mystical energy out of several objects. The problem we faced was that it drew power from all things magical, including us. Even with our extensive research in the Hogwarts library, we have not found anything to help with this dilemma."  
  
"So, "Buffy interrupted, "we thought we'd give the guys at Wolfram and Hart a call and see if they could help."  
  
"Ah." Dumbledore said.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Wolfram and Hart is an evil lawyer firm."  
  
"Yes we know that..._and_?" Buffy asked somewhat impatiently.  
  
"They support Voldermort. Any information they give us would not be remotely reliable and what we wanted to know would get back to Voldermort." Dumbledore explained.  
  
"We wouldn't ask W and H, per sè, we would ask our friends who run the LA branch." Buffy argued.  
  
Dumbledore pursed his lips. "As you wish. However, I will not be held responsible for any repercussions of this...judgement and I beg of you to be wary of them. They may be your friends, but they are surrounded by evil."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"What 'cha doing?" Harry asked as he sat down beside Dawn who was sitting against a tree near Hagrid's hut.  
  
"Training the slayers." She replied lazily snuggling up against him.  
  
"Yes; I can see that you're working them really hard." He said, his words dripping with sarcasm.  
  
"I sent them into the forest. Whoever brings back the most heads after three hours wins."  
  
"Heads?"  
  
"Yea; as in beheaded demons." She explained.  
  
"You sent them in there for three hours to fight very strong demons?"  
  
"Well they are slayers, three hours should be nothing and they're in partners: Flick and Emily, Jade and Luna and Ginny and Skye. Don't sweat, they'll be fine."  
  
"You teamed up Jade and Luna?"  
  
"Yeah; why, shouldn't I of?"  
  
"No way. Luna can annoy the most patient person in the world, let alone a powerful slayer with a tendency to blow off the handle a bit."  
  
"Oh; oops. Should I call them back?" Dawn answered her own question. "Nah; they'll be fine. Besides it'll do them both good...probably."  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Meanwhile, in the forest, thing were either going really well, or really badly.  
  
For Ginny and Skye, things were going really well. They had fought together before and were both fairly experienced in fighting the demons found in the Forbidden Forest. After 45 minutes of near perfect teamwork and quick kills they had seven heads in their 'Mary Poppins bag' and were still going strong.  
  
For Flick and Emily it was almost as good. Out of all the slayers currently in the forest, Flick was the most experienced and Emily was eager to learn. In the first hour, they collected five heads and were getting faster as Emily learnt more and became more confident.  
  
However, Jade and Luna were having problems, although not so much with the slaying. They managed thirteen head in one hour thirty, but Jade was very close to making Luna's head the next she put in the bag.  
  
"But, Jordan-"  
  
"It's Jaden." Jade said through gritted teeth.  
  
"-the Lohesh demon doesn't exist!" Luna totally ignored Jade.  
  
"It would appear it does as I currently have its head in my bag."  
  
"It just doesn't make sense. Father's article said that it was a soul killer and had been extinct for several decades! You must be wrong; it can't be a Lohesh."  
  
"Yes that's it! I'm wrong! Couldn't be your bloody father, no no no, it must be me." Jade muttered to herself.  
  
Luna looked slightly amused at Jaden's muttering. "You know talking to yourself is the first sign of madness." She acknowledged before walking on ahead.  
  
"I'm the crazy one?"  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
"Hey, dead boy junior. Spike? SPIKE! Wait up!" Xander ran up to his kind-of- friend.  
  
"Whelp?" Spike turned around, very dazed.  
  
"Yeah, it's me- wait a minute! My name, is Xander. Say it with me now: Xand- derrrr."  
  
"Xander?" Spike asked befuddled.  
  
"Are you alright?" Despite their differences, Xander felt concern bubble inside of him for his ally.  
  
"I'm fine, would you stop spinning around?"  
  
"I'm getting Madam Pomfrey."  
  
"Don't bother...did you manage to split yourself in two again?" He asked, still dazed.  
  
"Errr no. Listen Spike, there's something wrong with you. I'm gonna get you to the Scooby rooms and we'll get you better, alright? Wait; what are you doing out of there anyway? It's daylight."  
  
"Dumbledore...Voldermort...prophecy...sunrise." Was all Xander could make out. Well, that and some vowel sounds that weren't much use.  
  
"Riiight. Let's get going then shall we?" He slung the blond vampires arm around his neck so that he could help him walk as Spike looked very wobbly by this point.  
  
About half way back to the common room Spike suddenly shoved Xander away from him.  
  
"What the bloody hell are you doing, whelp?"  
  
"Me? I was helping you, and, speaking of you; what was wrong with you?" He demanded.  
  
"What do you- oh. That. There was nothing wrong with me; erm... Dumbledore warned me that there might be some side effects. Yeah that's right."  
  
"Dumbledore warned you? Side effects to what?" Now Xander was the confused one.  
  
"I can't tell you. Listen whelp, it would really be better if you didn't tell anyone about this."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Just trust me...ok?"  
  
"Ha; why should I?"  
  
"Let me put this another way; do you value your life?"  
  
"Oh yeah; that's convincing me that you're not evil."  
  
"Whelp...Xander...I haven't been evil for years. I've fought by your side; can't you just trust me? Even if you can't, just give me a couple of days and I'll prove it to you."  
  
"Fine, "Xander relented, "two days, then I'm telling Buffy."  
  
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"So what did you lear?" Harry asked patronisingly, leaning against the portrait that would grant them entrance to the Gryffindor common room.  
  
Towards the end of the training session, Jade had finally lost her temper and stuffed the less experienced slayer into her bag which contained all the bloody and grimy demon heads.  
  
Needless to say that a), the bag was magically enhanced to make it bigger on the inside and weightless for the carrier and b), Luna had not been very happy about it.  
  
"I learned... that Luna is very compactable?" She tried with a cheeky grin on her face.  
  
"Uh-huh try again." He teased.  
  
"Those bags hold a lot more than it looks like and that I should get one for when I go on holiday?"  
  
"Nope, try-"  
  
She stopped his questioning with a kiss. "I learnt that you are always right." She whispered, kissing him again.  
  
They were interrupted by a polite cough from behind them.  
  
"Looks like someone's been getting lucky while I've been away." The person said.  
  
Dawn whipped round at the sound of her voice. "Faith."  
  
Faith nodded. "Yup; that's me. Hiya Dawnie."  
  
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ONE HOUR EARLIER:  
  
"...so you've really come to help us?" Willow asked.  
  
"That's what I said." Faith replied. She had thought that the Scooby's were going to tell her to get lost at first, but they seemed to be coming round to her presence slowly.  
  
"We can use all the help we can get. Thank you." Buffy said.  
  
"It's nothing." Faith yawned widely. "Eugh, jet lag. I hate jet lag!"  
  
"Did you come strait here from the airport?" Willow asked, still slightly suspicious of Faith's sudden arrival.  
  
"Nah; I dropped the mini-slayers off to get some munchies while I had a... errand to run."  
  
"You're running errands now? Anything we need to know about?" Buffy asked concerned.  
  
"Nah; It was nothing important, personal stuff. So what's been going on here?" Faith changed the subject swiftly.  
  
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Jaden slipped through the corridors to clean up after her training session. She was quite pleased with herself; despite the 'babbling idiot', they hadn't done at all badly in the head stakes and a good killing session always left her feeling satisfied.  
  
For the second time in as many days, Jade bumped into Draco as he was about to enter the Slytherin common room.  
  
"Draco, oh my God, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I did that again!"  
  
"Don't worry about it." He said whilst picking himself off the floor.  
  
"Listen, I wanted to thank you for last night. I can't have been easy to deal with!"  
  
"Don't worry about it, really." He assured her. "I found it all really interesting."  
  
"You did? You haven't told anyone have you?" Jade panicked. "I shouldn't have told you, it was a secret and-"  
  
"Jaden, relax. Do you trust me?" She nodded. "Then what's the problem?"  
  
"There isn't one. Sorry."  
  
"Don't worry about it." He pulled her into a hug, looking over her shoulder. "You can trust me."  
  
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"When did you get here?" Dawn questioned.  
  
"Just over an hour ago." Faith replied; felling uncomfortable due to the look in Dawn's eyes. "B contacted Angel about the apocalypse, and the prophecy of course, and he told me all about it. You know me; can't resist a good fight; I've brought some of the Cleveland slayers to help you guys out."  
  
"You did?" Dawn asked doubtfully.  
  
Faith nodded before turning to Harry. "Hi; I'm Faith."  
  
"Hey. Harry Potter. I've heard a lot about you." He told her.  
  
"I bet you have." Faith shot a quick glare in Dawn's direction, before smirking wildly. "Wait, Harry Potter? The guy you're protecting? Way to go D!"  
  
Dawn blushed. "Now I remember why I don't like you, well one of the reasons anyway. Goodnight Harry."  
  
Harry knew how to take a hint and make a hasty exit, grateful to get away.  
  
"Xander said that Anya was much more embarrassing than I will ever be. And I thought you'd have got over that other thing by now." Faith commented.  
  
"What? When you tried to kill me and my family and then made my sister act really weird for months after you were in a coma? Funnily enough I still need some time."  
  
"You forgave Angel when he turned into Angelus, and from what I hear, he was way worse to you than I was. And everyone forgave Willow and she tried to end the frigging world! Not to mention Anya and Spike."  
  
"That wasn't Angel; that was Angelus and Willow was grieving and dittos the Angel- Angelus thing for Anya and Spike."  
  
"God, broken record much? You sound just like big sis, as always." Faith rolled her eyes dramatically.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Think about it Dawnie, actually don't even bother. No matter what I do, I'll always be big bad Faith who can't be trusted and kills people, no matter how much I change or how many times I help the Scoob's, it'll never be good enough. And you know what, I don't even care anymore. See ya around."  
  
Dawn tried to hide the guilt Faith's words brought to her, but it wasn't easy. As the reformed slayer turned on her heels and strode off she made an instant decision.  
  
"Faith!" She stopped and turned around. Dawn twisted uncomfortably under her gaze. "So...how've you been?"  
  
"Ya know; five by five." She smirked. "You?"  
  
"Five by five."  
  
"So does that mean we're cool?" The once-rogue slayer asked  
  
"Yeah; I guess." Dawn shrugged.  
  
"I knew the guilt trip would work, it did on B and Willow."  
  
"You mean you played us?"  
  
"Totally." Faith said with a big grin.  
  
Dawn just rolled her eyes, earning her a burst of laughter from Faith.  
  
"Brat really is all woman sized!"  
  
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I've reached twenty chapters! Only five chaps to go & I mostly know what's going to happen, yay! I want to start a review poll on one of the things I'm not sure about:  
  
Who should be the traitor; Draco, Spike or Faith? No matter what they've said in this chapter, they could be lying. Please, please review or email (kiaraz87hotmail.com) with who you would (or wouldn't) want it to be. It doesn't make any difference to the story as to which one's picked. Oh, and don't rule out the imperious or other curses like that. It's whatever the reviewers want!  
  
Thanks for reading; Kiara xxx


	21. Kidnapped!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and emailed:

**Lightdemondarkangel** You don't like Draco? I never would have guessed…Thanks for your input!

**Blondi Gurl**: I love Spike and Faith too, but I also like Draco! I've put a tally next to Draco for you. Thanks for reviewing.

**Buffy the Slayer**: He is the traitor type, but expect the unexpected and all that. Put you down as Draco, check! I could bring one of them back in a similar way, I haven't really thought about it, but I am now!

**Matt**: Thanks for the email; I think you just wanted to be awkward! Hope you like the chapter.

**Chrios**: I've put you down for Spike. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you like the next chapter!

**Amy-Baby**: Thanks for the email; yes, it was really detailed, but I like details! If I read it correctly, you want Draco to be the traitor, right?

**Note to all reviewers:** The traitor will be revealed next chapter.

**A BIT TO ADD TO THE DISCLAIMER:** I've borrowed some ideas from '100 ways to annoy Voldermort' from Mugglenet .com. I wrote to the site to try and get proper permission to use it, but they didn't respond. If they do write back & say I can't use it, then the sentences in question will be removed.

If anyone knows Greek, could they correct me please? There are a couple of sentences in this chap of it, but I just used an online translator and picked a language from the list.

**CHAPTER 19- KIDNAPPED!**

Dawn and Harry were taking an evening stroll along the edge of the forest when it happened. Several death eaters jumped out knocking them both unconscious in a matter of seconds.

Harry and Dawn didn't know what happened next; but they found themselves locked in a dark cell with a single candle providing them with light when they awoke.

"Dawn?"

"Whoa;" she groaned, "did anyone get the number of that bus?"

"Are you ok?"

"Just peachy; what about you?"

"I'm fine, but they took my wand." Harry moaned.

Dawn closed her eyes and muttered something. "They've done something to block my magic."

Dawn looked around observing their surroundings. "What is it with death eater and cold, damp and dirty imprisonments anyway?"

"Maybe Voldermort likes things that way. I really, really don't like him." Harry muttered.

"Look on the bright side honey."

"And that is what?"

"Well…he doesn't have a cool scar like you do and…he's afraid of an old man and he couldn't kill a little baby."

They were interrupted by a door somewhere above them opening and two sets of feet climbing down the stairs.

"You're awake." One acknowledged; Harry thought the voice was familiar to him, but he couldn't place it.

"Well if it isn't the boy-who-lived;" the second one sneered, "and his girlfriend."

"Well if it isn't two assistants of the man-who-let-the-boy-live." Dawn quipped back.

However that proved to be a bad idea as two seconds later she was doubled over with the pain of the Cruico curse.

"That the best you got?" She spluttered when the curse was lifted.

The death eater prepared to curse again, but the other stopped him.

"The Dark Lord doesn't want them harmed…yet." He said. He tossed down a brown sack. "We need them alive until the ritual."

The second death eater laughed cruelly as they both left, leaving their two prisoners locked in their cell.

Dawn opened the bag cautiously. "It's food. Do you think it's poisoned?"

"Not if they need us alive. I think it's safe."

Dawn nodded and tentatively bit into the bread roll that was provided. "It tastes fine."

"Good; I'm hungry."

"Always thinking of your stomach." Dawn jested, although the usual humour was lacking from her voice.

"You shouldn't have done that." Harry said between munches.

"Huh?"

"Made fun of the death eaters. They've got the power."

"And I'm taking some back, power I mean. It's a Scooby thing; when everything's against you, add lots of humour. Let's them know that they're not completely in control of you. You should try it next time." They were both silent for a while.

"How long do you think we have to wait until we're rescued?" Dawn asked.

"You mean if we are rescued."

"They'll come." Dawn said with conviction. "They always come. My guess is that they'll notice we're gone about now, work through the night and then get us out of here tomorrow."

"I hope you're right."

"I am."

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"Get up."

It was completely dark outside. Dawn and Harry hadn't had any 'visits' since the two death eater about an hour ago, although it felt like much longer.

Two death eaters grabbed Dawn and started dragging her out of the cell and the other two grabbed Harry and followed them.

They were lead though several corridors, each one as dark as the next, until they were eventually thrown down in a room that appeared to be empty. But they soon found it wasn't.

There was a chair against one wall and it slowly turned around. Stopping right in front of them and Voldermort slowly rose and stood before them.

"Wow. Grand entrance or what?" Dawn muttered sarcastically. "That's Voldermort?"

"Yes," Harry said with hatred evident in his voice. He gathered all his courage and said: "he looked better under the turban."

Dawn snorted, but Voldermort didn't see the funny side. He snarled and lifted his wand to Harry.

"I wouldn't if I were in your position, boy."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Look can we move this along? Our friends will be here any minute and we'd hate to keep them waiting."

Voldermort looked slightly taken aback, but he quickly schooled his features into a cruel smirk. "All part of the plan. I have thousand of my loyal supporters to kill your 'friends' when they attempt to rescue you. They will walk strait into my trap, just like you did. Sometimes I think you make it too easy for me; it's like taking candy from a baby."

"And for some people that's harder than for others." Dawn replied staring pointedly at Voldermort.

He snarled again. "You will see. Get them out of here!" He called to his supporters.

Harry and Dawn were dragged back to their cell once again.

"Oh crap." Harry said. "We're just bait, aren't we?"

"Partly; you remember the death eater said something about a ritual, well I think we're part of that too."

"You don't seem too worried." Harry commented.

"Nah; do you know how many times I've been used for bait? Hundreds; and Buffy's always saved me. Why should now be any different?"

Harry didn't know how to respond to that. Instead he settled for grumbling "I hate being bait," as Dawn snuggled up against him.

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"What do you mean; you don't know where they are?" Buffy yelled. "I can't believe you don't know where they are!"

The headmaster winced at the slayers shouting. She certainly had a very loud voice for someone so small. "I can assure you, Miss Summers, we are doing everything in our power to find them."

"Great! Cause that was such a lot when there were students missing! Do you know anything that goes on in this school? Willow!" She bellowed, not waiting for an answer. "How long will it take you to find Dawn?"

"It depends; umm a couple of hours maybe?"

Buffy nodded. "They've been gone for over six hours they could be dead already. We'll go as soon as they're located."

"If I may say so, Miss Summers, I think that it would be better to wait until daylight." The headmaster suggested.

"No way; we go as soon as they're located. All the slayers on the grounds are in plus anyone else who wants to go." Buffy easily slipped into the role of leader as she did during the fiasco with the First. "We're going to get them back."

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"Eye spy with my little eye something beginning with…C"

Harry lifted his head and looked around quickly before dropping his head back down. "Candle."

"Yup."

"Dawn; I think the game works better if there are more than five things that you can see in the room."

"Probably so." Dawn said slowly. "How long do you think we've been here?"

"I dunno; 10 or 12 hours?"

"Ok, so that probably means we've been here for about 5 or 6 hours." Seeing his look (barely), she explained. "Standard kidnapping rules. Divide whatever time you think you've been help by two and you usually have a pretty accurate guess."

"Marvellous." Harry muttered sarcastically. "So what do you want to do-"

He was interrupted by the door banging open and a group of death eaters climbing down the stairs.

"Oh great." Harry muttered; not bothering to stand up or move away from Dawn.

"Hey guys!" Dawn said chirpily. "How ya doing?"

The death eaters looked to each other in their confusion. Harry bit back a laugh; they obviously hadn't had prisoners like them before.

"Move." One of the death eaters barked; but he didn't give them a chance to obey.

He raised his wand and muttered something under his breath. Dawn and Harry found their arms trapped against their sides and forced to walk out of the basement.

This time, Harry was able to look around a bit more. They were in a wizarding house, of this he was sure as he looked in one open room and saw a luxurious bedroom being cleaned by a house elf. He looked at the portraits they passed and a couple had them gasping in shock.

They were of none other than Draco and Lucius Malfoy and, now he came to think of it, several of the other pictures had an uncanny resemblance to the father and son. They must be locked inside Malfoy Manor,

"Hey there Tommy-boy." Dawn called when they were released in his throne room.

Voldermort seemed to change colours. First he went white, then red and then purple. He lifted his wand to Dawn and she prepared to feel the Cruico curse again.

Instead he turned to Harry and uttered the curse. Harry doubled over, groaning in agony.

"Stop! Stop it!" Dawn screamed.

Voldermort didn't take his eyes off the boy withering in pain in front of him. "This is your fault, mudblood."

After a couple more seconds he dropped the curse. Dawn rushed to Harry's side, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" she murmured.

"It is time."

"Time for what?" Harry panted.

"You." Voldermort pointed at Dawn. "You will return to your true form at midnight."

"What?" Harry didn't know what they were talking about.

Dawn looked horrified and petrified. "The key." She spoke below a whisper.

Voldermort started cackling, Dawn shook with fear, and Harry stared from one to the other. What could they do now?

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"Buff; I think there's something that I should tell you." Xander said nervously.

"What? Are you ok?" Buffy asked, worried by her friends tone.

"I'm fine; but the other day I saw Spike. He was out in the castle and it was daylight. He was acting really weird, Buff, and not crazy basement weird, more 'I have no idea what I'm doing' weird. And now what with all that's happened…" He trailed off, spreading his arms in front of him in a helpless gesture.

"You think Spike has something to do with Dawn going missing? No way; he loves her."

"He said he loved you, but that didn't stop him hurting you."

"Xander, please don't. That was a long time ago and Spike is different, he has a soul now. I can't believe we're having this conversation again; I thought you and Spike were over all that."

"So did I; but look at the facts, Buffy; Spike went missing for two days, he knows about the prophecy and about Dawn. Voldermort must have gotten that information from somewhere and everyone else who knows has been in the castle since they found out about Dawn being the key."

Buffy didn't want to believe it, but Xander had a point. All the people who could or would have betrayed Dawn were still in the castle. Everyone except… "Faith."

"What?"

"Faith; Angel told her about the prophecy and she knows about Dawn. Let's face it; she doesn't exactly have a great record. And she wouldn't tell us about the 'errand' she had to ditch the mini slayers for."

"But Faith? She wouldn't do that, she's changed." Xander said disbelievingly.

"So has Spike, but you still think it's him." Buffy said defensively. "Wait, this is ridiculous. Spike or Faith wouldn't do that to Dawn; they are helping to fight against Voldermort, not for him!"

"You're right, aren't you? Of course you are, they wouldn't do that." Xander said somewhat unconvincingly.

"Buffy! Xander! Willow's locked onto Dawn! She's found them!" Flick said excitedly.

"She's found them?"

"Yes. Dumbledore's setting up a port key now; we should be ready to go in about half an hour!" Flick bounded out of the room again to prepare to get her friends back.

Buffy and Xander exchanged nervous glances. Would half an hour be too long?

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"I have no use for you in human form…unless you feel like coming over to the dark side?" Voldermort hissed at Dawn. "No, I thought as much. Anyway; I can use you in energy form."

"What are you going to do?" Dawn asked fearfully.

"Just a little spell, well, quite a big spell actually. I don't think you know of the true potential of your power Miss Summers, pity about your heritage."

"What's wrong with my heritage?" A little spark of life came back into Dawn.

"While you are not a mudblood; that is only because you were created from pure magic. Your parentage, however, is as low as it gets."

"Take that back." She spat.

Voldermort laughed. "You're in no position to be giving orders little girl, oh, and that reminds me." He flicked his wand at the two prisoners and they shot back against the walls. Ropes sprang out from the wooden panelling and bound them tightly.

"Rayne! Are you ready?" Voldermort barked as one of the death eaters entered the room, accompanied by two more.

"Rayne? Ethan?" Dawn questioned.

"Hello Dawnie; long time no see." His voice had a colder note to it than the last time she had met him (either that or the monks got it wrong).

"You don't have to do this." She pleaded.

"I don't have to; I want to." He sneered opening an ancient looking book. "This will show Ripper and the slayer once and for all that you don't mess with Ethan Rayne."

"Enough! Rayne, begin the spell."

"Very well, my Lord." Ethan turned to Dawn and began reading from the book. "Δυνατές δυν�μεις; ακούστε το αίτημ� μου, ικετεύω σας…" My God; hear my request, I beg of you…

"Harry." Dawn whimpered.

"It's ok; I'm here." He assured her, not able to do anything else from where he was firmly tied to the wall. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I'm scared… I love you."

"I love you too; don't worry, It'll be alright."

"…Ρωτώ των Θεών; μετατρέπω το κλειδί σε πρ�σινη ενέργεια." I ask of the Gods; turn the key into green energy.

"Why isn't it working?" Voldermort bellowed.

"I-I-I don't know; my Lord. It may be a too powerful spell for me to perform." Ethan whined.

"Power…hmm." Voldermort seemed to be mulling something over. "You must get the power from a source…her blood. You; fetch me a knife."

The death eater he pointed at hurried out of the room. He soon returned with a long silver blade.

"Cut her." Voldermort commanded.

The death eater didn't say anything. He walked over to Dawn, pulled back her winter cloak and slashed the knife across the white shirt of her Hogwarts uniform.

Dawn gasped in shock, even though she knew that it was coming. Crimson liquid started oozing over the shirt immediately and dripped down onto the floor forming a pool around her feet.

Ethan looked back down to the book. "Ο Θεός μου αφήστε την αλλαγή της! Αλλαγή!" My God, let her change! Change!

Green light started pouring out of Dawns wound and gathering in a bright ball in front of her. In the distance, church bells chimed midnight's arrival.

"Αλλαγή! Αφήστε την αλλαγή να είναι πλή-" Change! Let the change be compl-

Suddenly Ethan yelped and was thrown backwards.

"Who's there?" Voldermort called.

The three death eaters in the room gasped and dropped to the floor.

"Who's there? I demand you show yourself!"

"You demand?" A girly voice answered him. "That isn't very polite."

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldermort shouted, pointing his wand at the spot where he heard the voice.

"Missed me!" There was a slight rustling and Buffy appeared out of nowhere. "Hey Harry; cool cloak!"

"Err, thanks." Harry stole a quick look at Dawn. The spell had stopped when Ethan Rayne had been pushed, but most of the essence of the key was still dangling in front of her and she was slumped against the wall breathing shallowly.

There was a great crash as the wall opposite that which they were tied to burst open.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join in?"

In the hole that was once a wall stood Faith with Willow, Giles, Xander, Flick, Skye, Jade, Ginny, Emily and Luna.

"Someone would have heard that." Buffy commented, still dodging curses. "Faith, get them out of here."

Faith rushed over to Harry and broke the ties around his hand with two quick hacks of her axe. "Gin; get him out of here."

"I'm not going without Dawn." He said stubbornly.

"If you stay, you'll get her killed. Now go with little red ridding hood over there and get yourself looked over."

"I'm fine." Harry protested, but he went with Ginny anyway. She led him over to the port key and they transported back to Hogwarts.

Faith moved onto Dawn. "Uh-oh; this don't look so good."

Several death eaters had run down the stairs hearing the commotion and they kept the slayers very busy. They all had Wicca protection spells guarding them, not unlike those that Dawn had cast on Halloween, so they were protected from the weaker spells, but they spent most of their time dodging and getting in a hit whenever possible.

Giles stood over Ethan Rayne who still lay on the floor. "Get up."

Rayne looked around and saw a slayer put a crossbow through a death eater's heart. "I thought slayers couldn't kill humans." He stuttered.

"That only applies to the good ones." Giles replied evenly. "Goodbye Ethan."

Confusion shone in Ethan's eyes. Giles flung out his wrist revealing a sword and drew it quickly over his throat. Ethan fell to the ground, a hiss of air escaping through the wound in his neck. Giles looked down at his dead ex-friend before pulling out his wand and turning away from the body on the floor.

Meanwhile Willow was chanting softly. Faith had released Dawn from the wall, but there was still the question of the floating ball of energy that had to be dealt with.

"…ενέργεια, επιστροφή; επιστροφή!" …energy, return; return!

The energy poured back into Dawn who was still propped up by Faith.

"Get her out of here and wait for us outside, I don't know how accurate the port key is if we use it more than two or three times. I'll tell Buffy we're clear." Willow said.

Faith lifted Dawn and faced her first problem: how to get to the exit on the other side of the room? She heaved Dawn over her shoulder, prayed that there were no problems with Willow's shield and ran as fast as she could to the other side.

They got across without getting cursed, miraculously. As they got outside, Faith heard Buffy shout and the slayers, Giles, Xander and Willow rushed out, the death eaters prevented from following by an only-the-good-get-through shield from Willow.

"Is she ok?" Buffy dashed over to Faith, concerned about her sister.

"I think so, she needs to see a doctor; she's got a pretty deep cut and, as far as I can guess, is exhausted."

"Are you ok?" Buffy asked. Faith looked confused. "You're covered in blood."

"Oh, that. It's Dawn's." Faith explained.

"Thank you, for getting her out; it can't have been easy." Buffy said sincerely.

"I like a challenge." Faith smirked.

"Everyone grab hold." Willow announced. "We're going back to Hogwarts."

Everyone scrabbled to hold a piece of the port key, except for Dawn who was unconscious with one arm around Buffy and the other around Faith.

Two seconds later they were gone, leaving several very annoyed wizards and their master behind them.

"What shall he do now, my Lord?" One asked.

"I think it is time for plan b." Voldermort replied slowly, his features twisting into a cruel sneer. "They aren't going to know what's hit them."

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Only four more chapters to go!!! (The traitor will be revealed next chapter, so you can still say who you want it to be)

That means only four more chances to review! Oh no! Come on guys, if I can spend three days writing a new chapter, could you at least spend three minutes reviewing it? That of course doesn't apply to my lovely readers who do review and who I love very much


	22. The End is Nigh

Thanks to all the reviewers:  
  
**Lightdemondarkangel:** 1) your welcome, 2) thanks blushes 3) you'll find out soon enough 4) Wahoo Giles!  
  
**Vld:** Another wild card, they're fun! Maybe Faith, maybe not. You'll find out at the end of this chapter.  
  
**Tituba:** Thanks for reviewing; I wasn't sure if the language would upload correctly, but I'll just say it's my own specially invented language! I'm glad you like the story, I love you fic 'Where do we go from here', it's so cute!  
  
**Matt**: The suggestion was definitely good awkward, not bad. A sequel? I don't know, maybe. Do you want Faith and Xander to hook up, because I want something good and happy to be at the end and I thought maybe a pairing of sorts? I'm glad you like the story.  
  
**saevus maena:** Another point for Draco... You'll find out towards the end of this chapter. Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**Chrios:** I think toenails are pretty gross too! I'm glad you found the chap shiver-sum! You'll find out soon enough.  
  
**Buffster3000:** This chap has some fluff in it, I think everyone loves a good bit of fluff every now and again and the last chap (when I write it) will be full of it! Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**Jazzy Punker (x3):** I've changed the Huddle to Huffle! Thanks for pointing that out. Xander's great, isn't he! Draco = angst = good, got it!  
  
**WaterNaiad13:** Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**Silver Warrior:** Voldermort wanted the key because it would give him more power and the prophecy said that it would help Harry to destroy him. Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**Kev**: Willow will have a fight scene towards the end, but it might not be what you expect. Sorry about the cliffie :-) I agree that my writing has got better, but could it have got much worse?  
  
**Buffy the Slayer:** I'll consider anything really! It didn't really have a point except to let Buffy know about Spike as a poss traitor and for them to consider Faith. Thanks for reviewing!  
  
**Vogue Act:** I'm really glad you like the story and I've taken marks off the Draco column for you. Jaden isn't going to be the traitor; she's only just got good again! La Rose Minuit: I'm reeeallly sorry, but there has to be a traitor!!! Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I hope you aren't disappointed by the ending!  
  
**Bunny Kat:** Again, really sorry but someone has to be the traitor, I hope you like the way I've decided to go with it. Glad you like the story...so far!  
  
**A/N:** These chapters keep getting longer, ahh! This one is twice the size of chapter one! Anyway point being I'm trying to get them out quick quickly cause we're nearly at the end now, but it might take a while.  
  
**CHAPTER 22- THE END IS NIGH**  
  
**10:30 AM  
**  
"Hey there sleepy head." Buffy cooed. "You've been out for ten hours. How do you feel?"  
  
Dawn groaned. "Like I had my life essence pulled out and dangled in front of me."  
  
"See, B, nothing wrong with her." Faith chirped.  
  
"Faith?" Dawn looked around the side room of the hospital wing for the slayer.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thanks, for getting me out."  
  
"Anytime, kid." She punched Dawn lightly on the shoulder.  
  
Dawn shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts. "Is Harry ok? And everyone else?"  
  
"Everyone's fine. And Harry's tougher than he looks. I gotta say, he's a bit weedy."  
  
"Hey!" Harry's annoyed exclamation came from the bed next to Dawn where he was sitting. Much to Madam Pomfrey's annoyance, he had refused to go to sleep until Dawn woke up and now was dead on his feet (not literally).  
  
Dawn struggled to sit up. "Can I go now?"  
  
"No way! You nearly died Dawn...Again! What is it with you two? Other kids can go weeks without nearly getting themselves killed!" Buffy said sternly.  
  
"I'm sorry." Dawn replied meekly.  
  
Buffy sighed. "Me too, I just worry about you. But be careful, ok?"  
  
About a half hour later, Madam Pomfrey came in and shooed all the visitors out so that Dawn and Harry could rest. Dawn feel fast asleep the minute their company left leaving Harry alone with his thoughts until he too fell asleep.  
  
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**11:15 AM**  
  
"Spike, we need to talk. In here."  
  
Spike was surprised at the harsh tone in the slayers voice.  
  
"Did you do it?" she demanded.  
  
"Do what, pet?"  
  
"Betray Dawn to Voldermort."  
  
"You really think that I would do that to Niblet?" He asked hurt.  
  
"Did you do it Spike? Xander said that he saw you the other day coming back from somewhere in broad daylight and you wouldn't tell him where."  
  
"Of course he did; he couldn't have bloody trusted me! Come here."  
  
Spike grabbed Buffy and dragged her outside. Right into the sunshine.  
  
"I was with Dumbledore. He's been performing these spells on me and the poofter so that we can help you if the fight's during the day."  
  
"He did?"  
  
"Ask him if you don't believe me."  
  
"Spike, I'm sorry. I do believe you, it's just that I was worried about Dawn and I didn't know...she might die, Spike." Buffy looked up at Spike with tear filled eyes.  
  
He pulled her to him in a tight hug and they stood there in the sunlight; a vampire slayer and a vampire, together in their worry.  
  
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**12:45 PM**  
  
"This better be good Dumbledore, I was just having lunch!" Buffy grumbled.  
  
"Miss Summers; this is Percy Weasly. He is an employee of the ministry of magic."  
  
"It's very nice to meet you." Percy said, slightly pompously.  
  
"Yea, same to you."  
  
"Whilst Mr Fudge was minister," Percy rolled his eyes at this point and Dumbledore smirked; "Mr Weasly was his assistant and relayed information to the order. It made him quite unpopular with his family."  
  
"Ohh!" Buffy warmed up to the stiff Englishman. "So you're one of Ginny's brothers? She's a good kid, so is Ron for that matter."  
  
Percy smiled broadly at the praise of his family. "They're great. But the reason I am here is that we received word from one of our informants that he-who-must-not-be-named is planning his final strike soon.  
  
"The ministry told your sister that we would help in the fight against you- know-who and I am here to tell her that the aurors and any other resources that the ministry has are willing to help in any way possible."  
  
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**12:55 PM**  
  
"Madam Pomfrey, is Dawn awake?"  
  
The school matron nodded. "Yes I have just given her lunch."  
  
"Can I go and see her? It's really important" Buffy pleaded.  
  
Madam Pomfrey frowned. "Very well, but only for a couple of minutes. And be quiet; Harry's still sleeping."  
  
Buffy pushed open the door quietly. "Hiya."  
  
"Hey."  
  
"Madam Pomfrey only gave me a minute."  
  
Dawn nodded, pushing her empty tray aside.  
  
"How you feeling?" Buffy enquired.  
  
"Tired, but ok. How are things going out there?"  
  
"Fine. Giles and Willow are going to figure out the kinks in the scythe plan and Emily and Luna are training with Faith. Ginny's brother, Percy, visited earlier. He gave you an army, isn't that sweet?"  
  
"An army?"  
  
"Yup. He works at the ministry, had to be a total ass and a double agent for the order for a while. He said that, and I quote: the aurors and any other resources that the ministry has are willing to help in any way possible end quote."  
  
"Really? Good, that means we have some wizards on our side. We need to-"  
  
"You don't need to do anything. You need to rest. We have to have you at full strength for whenever Voldermort decided to fight."  
  
Dawn lay back down in her bed. "Ok. Stay with me until I fall asleep?"  
  
Buffy nodded and lay down beside her sister. She stroked her hair as Dawn started to drift off to sleep. She was only seventeen, how was it fair that she was thinking about war tactics when she should be recovering?  
  
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**2:00 PM**  
  
Willow and Giles found themselves in the room of requirement once again.  
  
Everyone was certain that Voldermort would make his final move soon and they still had a few bugs to work out in their plan with the scythe.  
  
"Have you thought about what you'll do?" Giles asked, engrossed in his task. He looked up and saw Willow's confused face. "If Dawn dies, what will you do? Will you bring her back?"  
  
Willow sighed. "No. That was serious dark magic and I don't want to get into that again. And I couldn't do that to Dawnie, bring her back from heaven I mean; Buffy will never forget what it was like there and I wouldn't pull anyone out ever again." She turned back to the scythe. "Plus, we smashed the last urn of osiris."  
  
Giles nodded thankfully. He didn't have the power to stop Willow if she really wanted to bring Dawn back, so he was very glad she wasn't planning on it.  
  
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**3:00 PM**  
  
"...So what's the plan?" Buffy had called every active slayer to Hogwarts and the Wolfram and Hart crew (Angel, Illyria, Gunn, Wes and Lorne) had arrived at the same time.  
  
"You guys fight the baddies while Harry, Dawn, Giles, Spike and I go after Voldermort."  
  
"Spike?! And Harry and Dawn are just kids!" He protested.  
  
"You've heard the prophecy. Spike's a good fighter, he cares for Dawn and he won't let her down."  
  
"Neither would I."  
  
"I know you wouldn't; but I still need people to run the fight with the death eaters, and that's you, Xander and, oddly enough, Faith."  
  
Angel grumbled, but agreed. "How are we going to fight them? They'll slaughter us with magic on their side."  
  
"Willow and Giles are working on it." She assured him. "Right, I better go greet the masses."  
  
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**3:15 PM**  
  
"...We've been waiting for this; for the final battle. Us vs. the death eaters and we're going to win. We have no choice. If we lost then the world ends. Right now, we have the biggest army that we've ever had; two vampires, a Wicca, Illyria, a couple of demons, three very special civilians, hundreds of slayers and over a thousand wizards."  
  
All the active slayers were sitting in the great hall listening to the longest living of their kind. Buffy had called in all the slayers from Cleveland and from every corner of the planet to help fight Voldermort. All the LA crew and the Scoobies except for Giles and Willow were also present.  
  
"Here's the plan; you kill the death eaters. Angel, Xander and Faith will be with you, they will be leading the fight. We don't really know how many there are, but, until Willow can finish her spell, they have magic and you don't. They won't hesitate to kill you, so don't hesitate to kill them.  
  
"There is one who you don't touch; Voldermort, the ring leader. Leave him to Harry, Dawn, Giles, Spike and me. Got it? Good. I don't know how long we have; maybe hours, maybe days; but the end in coming and you have to be ready."  
  
Buffy climbed off the dais, followed by Faith, Xander, Spike and 'the fang gang'. The slayers sitting at the house tables also started moving; whether it was to train, to sleep or to ask the witch-slayers for information they were preparing.  
  
When the time came ,they would be ready.  
  
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**4:30 PM**  
  
Willow rushed into the Scooby common room closely followed by Giles.  
  
"We've done it, we've done it!" She cried.  
  
"Calm down Will; done what?"  
  
"The scythe! I have to program in Spike, Angel and Lorne or it'll do something to their energy as well and might overload, but I can do that tonight. All we had to do was change the way that the power was formed and then key in a few magic dimensions and then focus the scythe on the dark energy and then-"  
  
"Whoa, Willow;" Xander interrupted, "we don't have a clue what you're talking about."  
  
"Sorry." Willow blushed. "The scythe works; it only draws upon dark magic and all I have to do is work in a few more magic spells and I'll be ready by tonight. I've practiced and I should be able to control it during the battle."  
  
"You're sure?" Buffy checked.  
  
"Absolutely."  
  
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**6:30 PM**  
  
Buffy walked out into the grounds where Faith was sparring with Jaden, Skye and a dozen of the slayers from Cleveland.  
  
"Faith; can I have a word?"  
  
"Sure; keep it going you guys."  
  
Faith gestured to a patch of grass and they both sat down.  
  
"What do you think that was about?" Skye asked Jade.  
  
"Dunno; if we go a bit closer we could hear..." Jaden suggested and the two slayers flopped down near enough to overhear their conversation.  
  
"Faith, you know about Dawn being kidnapped."  
  
"Yeah; came as a bit of a shock, I mean sure take Harry, but why Dawn?"  
  
"Because of the prophecy" Buffy said slowly.  
  
"Huh?" Faith was confused. "If Harry's the only guy who can defeat Voldermort, then why take Dawn?"  
  
"The other prophecy. Don't you know?" Faith shook her head. "It says they Harry will be helped by Dawn to defeat Voldermort and that they can only win together and that one of them will die."  
  
Faith looked shocked. "She's gonna die?" She stammered hoarsely.  
  
"You didn't know? But I though Angel told you about the prophecy?"  
  
"Not that one."  
  
"But then, you couldn't have..."  
  
"I couldn't have what?"  
  
"Nothing." Buffy said quickly. "It doesn't matter."  
  
"B; Buffy; what couldn't I have done?"  
  
Buffy sighed. "Someone told Voldermort about the prophecy. The only people who knew and were in England at the time and not accounted for were you and Spike."  
  
"You thought I would do that?" Faith asked, hurt.  
  
"Not really, no, I know you wouldn't, you're practically a Scooby and so is Spike; but who could it be, Faith? No-one knows!"  
  
About three meters away two slayers were listening. One in interest and the other in alarm.  
  
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**10:55 PM**  
  
Willow yawned loudly, drawing all the attention in the room to her. "Sorry!"  
  
Everyone was crammed in the Scooby Common Room, everyone being the Scoobies (including Faith), the Fang Gang, Dumbledore and three officials from the ministry. For the last three and a half hours they had been discussing battle plans in great detail.  
  
Willow's part in the fight was easy; sit quite a way away and perform the spell with two fairly experienced slayers guarding her, just in case. In case of what, Willow didn't know; if she was attacked, if something went wrong with the spell, if she went evil, you know, just the usual.  
  
Willow stood up and excused herself. She was no use at that moment and she needed all the rest she could get if she were to perform the spell properly tomorrow.  
  
She lay in her bed, willing herself to sleep. Finally she closed her eyes, but when she opened them again she wasn't in her bedroom.  
  
She was in Sunnydale Park, standing on the wooden bridge that went over the little stream.  
  
"Willow!" A familiar voice called.  
  
"Who's there?" Years spent fighting with the slayer had taught her to get strait to the point.  
  
"Don't you remember?" The person said sadly.  
  
"Tara?"  
  
Suddenly Tara was standing next to her on the bridge. "Hey baby."  
  
"No, this isn't real, you're-"  
  
"Dead. Yes; I'm still dead. You're dreaming." Tara sort of explained. "The powers that be sent me to prepare you."  
  
"Prepare me? What for?"  
  
Willow's heart ached as Tara gave her that smile that she would never forget. "For tomorrow of course! You're going to be doing some powerful magic."  
  
"I know."  
  
"You have to be careful. You'll be different afterwards."  
  
"Different? Evil different?" Willow panicked.  
  
"I don't know; the prophecy isn't clear."  
  
"Prophecy? Another prophecy? This isn't happening." The red head groaned.  
  
"You're going to have to face your inner self, so will Buffy." Tara said.  
  
"My inner self? And what about Buffy?" Willow questioned.  
  
"The Wicca will perform the spell. She will fight against herself to become more powerful than before. She will change her nature and never be the same again. As for Buffy, her prophecy is even less clear and you can't tell her about it, she doesn't need to know. All we know is that she will face her inner self once again; but this time she will do it alone and she will triumph." Tara recited.  
  
"So Buffy's going to be ok?" Tara nodded and Willow sighed with relief. "Thank God! Right, about me: more powerful than before? When I was most powerful, I was evil. I'm going to be evil again."  
  
"Not if you don't let it happen. I believe in you Willow." Tara said before Willow was pulled out of the sunlight and into the dark.  
  
She sat bolt upright in her sleep. "Tara!"  
  
Willow looked around; she was back in her bedroom, three prophecies to be fulfilled sometime in the next twenty four hours. Buffy would be fine, she didn't even need to know about her role, but what was she going to do now?  
  
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**11:15 PM**  
  
"Harry?" Dawn whispered.  
  
"Yes?" He whispered back.  
  
"Are you awake?"  
  
Harry raised his head to give Dawn a look.  
  
"Buffy visited me earlier, "she told him in a whisper; "Percy Weasly came to Hogwarts and practically gave us the ministry to work into the war."  
  
"Really? But he's such a git! I would've thought he would have run off crying when Fudge resigned."  
  
"Apparently he had to act like that to gain Fudge's trust and then he could relay info back to the order."  
  
"Oh." Harry started feeling guilty.  
  
Dawn sighed. "I'm not tired."  
  
"Me neither- wait, why are we whispering? We are in a room to ourselves!"  
  
"Oh, yeah." Dawn returned to her normal voice. "Wonder why they did that, I mean they go to all that trouble of putting the girls and boys dorms separate, but then they go ahead and put us in the same hospital room." Dawn mused.  
  
"Probably figured we'd be too tired to, you know, or it just didn't occur to them."  
  
"Right. So are you tired?"  
  
"No." He looked at his watch and strained to read the numbers in the dark. "No wonder; we've been sleeping for over twelve hours."  
  
Dawn swung out of bed and padded over to Harry. She got into his bed and he wrapped his arms around her. "Do you mind?"  
  
"Not at all."  
  
"I was thinking," Dawn said tracing little circles on his arm; "the final fight is coming...really, really soon... and one of us isn't going to make it."  
  
Harry didn't say anything; he just waited for Dawn to continue.  
  
She turned so she was facing him. "I don't want to die without being with you."  
  
"You are with me."  
  
"Not like that. OK, there's loads of stuff I want to do if we make it, but the chances are we won't... And, before we die, I want to make love to you." Dawn finally said, her cheeks going bright red; she had never been this forward before.  
  
"Dawn, I-"  
  
"It's ok if you don't want to." She said quickly, still blushing. "I know I kinda sprang it on you. I just-"  
  
Harry put his finger to her lips to quiet her. "I want to."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really."  
  
Harry started kissing her. He moved so that he was lying on top of her and moved his hands to the hem of her t-shirt. "Are you sure you want to do this?"  
  
Dawn nodded with a slight smile on her features. "Positive."  
  
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**11:30 PM**  
  
Jaden had been wondering around for hours, ever since she heard Buffy and Faith's conversation. She had finally reached her decision.  
  
"It was you, wasn't it?" She confronted Draco.  
  
Draco jumped round at the sound of his housemate's voice.  
  
"W-what are you talking about?"  
  
"Stop playing games, Draco; I know it was you." Jaden said sadly.  
  
Draco dropped his head. "I'm sorry." His voice cracked.  
  
Jade sat down opposite him. This wasn't the prince of Slytherin that everyone knew. His hair was a mess, his robes were crumpled, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.  
  
"What happened to you?" Jaden said in a kinder tone.  
  
"I didn't want to do it, I swear! He made me!"  
  
"Who did?" Jaden asked confused.  
  
"My Father." Draco spat. "This Christmas he demanded I work as Voldermort's spy at Hogwarts. When I refused, he went crazy. He did the imperious charm; I didn't want to tell him anything, I didn't have a choice! Please believe me!"  
  
"I do." Jaden assured him, and she really did. She could always tell if someone was lying, and she was sure Draco wasn't.  
  
Draco shot a quick look at her eyes, was she really believing him? It seemed she was, so he decided to continue.  
  
"The other night, when I heard about Dawn, I broke the spell, I don't know how. It was like I couldn't do it; I'd rather die than hurt anyone else. My father-"Draco cleared his throat and forced back tears. "I told him I wouldn't do it anymore, h-he told me that I would never be part of the family again."  
  
Jade hugged her friend, no doubt in her mind that he was telling the truth. She didn't see the smug look he sent over her shoulder to someone standing in the shadows. "I knew something was wrong with you."  
  
Ideas whirled in her head. "You have to tell Dawn and Buffy."  
  
"I can't; they'll kill me." There was no pretending there; they really would kill him. They wouldn't be as easy to convince as Jaden.  
  
"They know someone told Voldermort," Draco flinched, "and they'll figure it out. If you tell them then you can help fight Voldermort...if you want to fight him that is."  
  
"I really do." He lied.  
  
"Then tell him."  
  
Draco nodded. "Not yet. After Dawn gets out of the hospital wing."  
  
"Ok. Wait a sec, how did you keep getting home? You can't have apperated every time you had a new bit of news."  
  
"No; my father gave me a sort of port key to outside Malfoy Manor. Voldermort's army gathers in the caves underneath so he could easily tell him what I found out."  
  
"His army?"  
  
"Yeah the death eaters, a few vampires and about a hundred demons; didn't you know?" He asked innocently.  
  
"No." Jaden said, already halfway out of the common room.  
  
Draco smirked when he was sure she had left. "That was almost too easy."  
  
"An Oscar winning performance Draco." Pansy Parkinson came out from the shadows grinning smugly. "Does that mean we don't need her anymore? Can I stop pretending to like her?"  
  
Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes Pansy, you can stop pretending...An Oscar what?" He shook his head. "I don't even care. Come on we've got to go or we'll be late for the meeting. War is coming Pansy, and I don't want to miss a minute of it."  
  
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"...Now, we prepare for battle. Tomorrow afternoon some shall fight and the rest of my army shall join us at nightfall; dark wizards and demons united! We shall crush the half breeds that have taken over our world and claim what is rightfully ours!"  
  
A loud roar greeted him. Voldermort looked around the underground cave at the thousands of demons, vampires and death eaters that looked up at him.  
  
"We will crush them!"  
  
Again, a roaring frenzy answered him and a cold smirk slid across his face as he thought about his army ripping Harry Potter to shreds. "He doesn't stand a chance."  
  
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**Next Chapter:** Draco 'comes clean', Battle-mania and we find out who dies.  
  
**I'M SORRY** for everyone who didn't want Draco to be the traitor; but it's a dirty job and someone had to do it!  
  
**A/N:** I know nothing about battle techniques! However the next two chapters are going to revolve very heavily around fighting. So I was wondering if there was anyone who does know what is realistic who could read the chaps before I 'publish' them and tell me if it makes sense. Please send an email or a review if you would be willing to help.  
  
Three chapters left and three prophecies to fulfil; I think I've got my work cut out for me. Why did I have to add more prophecies?  
  
Please review! All you people on Author Alert and Story Favourites lists, please review! All you guys who haven't reviewed yet, please review! Everyone who has reviewed: please review again! 


	23. Final Battle

Thanks to everyone who reviewed:  
  
**Buffy the slayer:** I'm glad it was good chezzy and your hate of Pansy has been duly noted.  
  
**Orion the Hunter:** Thanks for reviewing  
  
**Fallen Star2:** Thanks for reviewing. Sorry to disappoint you with the traitor malarkey.  
  
**Bunny Kat:** Spike can go anywhere sunny safely and thanks for forgiving me!  
  
**Charmed Chick:** My brother saw your review and disagrees. He says the cute girl should be the one to live! But I agree with you!  
  
**Blondi gurl:** Glad you liked the chapter and thanks for reviewing. Willow's fight will be next chapter.  
  
**Phoenix Light Wing:** Thanks for reviewing! I hope the next chapter will be up within a week.  
  
**TTrunks:** Hey there; I tried to send you the fic, but it said that your email wasn't recognised?? It could just be my virus programme; it tends to be a little overprotective and sometimes doesn't let me send stuff to other people. Sorry about that!  
  
**Dragon Doll:** Feel free to yell at any characters in your reviews!  
  
**Jazzy punker**: Jade was a bit gullible wasn't she? Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**Lightdemondarkangel:** I sent the chapter to your address (with 88 in it). I don't know if you got it or not, but if you have any comments about this chapter then feel free to put them in a review or email me and I'm happy to repost if you feel it's necessary.  
  
**Chrios:** Thanks for the review. I couldn't leave Tara out, there's more of her next chapter. Happy ending? Possibly, either that or a big kaboom-y end.  
  
**Wandering Soul 24:** I'm glad you like the story. Jaden isn't going to die, she's been through too much to die what with the maybe being evil an' all. Thanks for the offer on the websites, but I got lots of volunteers to beta this.  
  
**Kev:** If it wasn't for the prophecy then I think Willow could squash Voldermort like a bug. But she will play a big part in the way the battle goes and will have to fight a battle which I think is harder than old Voldie.  
  
**A MASSIVE THANKS to Silver Warrior and Matt** for proof reading this chapter for me. I'm not confident on fight scenes and it helped to have two people tell me that it was ok.  
  
**A/N:** I think I'm going insane! My fingers have a mind of their own and they just type what they want to type and don't care if it makes sense. I really hope this will come together in the next two chapters, but trust me; anything could (and probably will) happen.  
  
**CHARACTER DEATH AHEAD; you have been warned.**  
  
**CHAPTER 23- FINAL BATTLE**  
  
Dear Father, [Draco Wrote]  
  
I have been discovered. We always knew there was a risk when I informed you of the key, but I have managed to assure one of the slayers that a wish her no harm. Fool. She is adamant that I tell her watcher of my involvement in the ritual, and there is a strong chance that she might kill me. However, if she lets me live, I would most probably be under close watch, so this will be my last letter.  
  
The Slayers do not know of our Lords demon army, nor will they find out. I was forced to tell them that the Dark Lord had 'a few' demons on his side, but they don't know the truth about the demon numbers. I trust the plan to attack the school at sundown will still go ahead once I have told you my news as I don't believe the little girls with their swords stand a chance.  
  
Slayers are gathering as are wizards, and not just aurors. Many workers from the ministry will be fighting, plus whatever support Dumbledore can drum up. There are a little over two hundred and fifty slayers in the hall that I know of. I am doubtful that many more shall arrive before you have a chance to put the plan into action.  
  
I feel that I must warn you though; these slayers are known to be idiotically heroic and will do everything they can to stop the plan; I wouldn't put it past them to actually try and enter Malfoy Manor! I will rejoin you in the fight when we shall surely be victorious;  
  
Yours, Draco Malfoy.  
  
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"So you betrayed me." Dawn stated.  
  
Draco squirmed under her harsh gaze. He had gone to the hospital wing first thing in the morning to tell Dawn the 'truth'. "I didn't want to, I swear it."  
  
"I know someone had, didn't think it would be you. How did you find out? We didn't exactly shout it from the mountain tops!"  
  
"I-I told him." Jaden stuttered. "I'm so sorry. I was upset and I..."  
  
"It's ok, Jade." Dawn assured her friend before turning back to Malfoy. "Why are you telling me this?"  
  
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I don't want to become a death eater, and I definitely don't want the Dark Lord to win." He was feeling better about this now; he had told Dawn everything and still had all his limbs attached! She seemed to be buying his story, but then he was a Malfoy.  
  
"Are you saying that you want to fight on our side?" That wasn't what Dawn expected.  
  
"Yes." He replied after a short pause. "I want to fight the Dark Lord." He felt sick to his stomach as he went against his master, but he must do whatever it takes to discover their plans and stay alive.  
  
"I've gotta say that's not what I expected. I don't trust you, for obvious reasons, but we need all the help we can get. You know the set up of the Manor; I need you to tell people what you told me and everything you know about Voldermort's plans."  
  
Draco nodded and prepared to leave.  
  
"And Draco; if you do anything to hurt me or any of my friends ever again, and it wouldn't surprise me if you did; then there will be a very long line of people waiting to slaughter you, understand?"  
  
Draco nodded again and practically ran out of the room.  
  
"Follow him. Don't let him out of your sight." Dawn commented her eyes still on the retreating figure of Draco Malfoy. Jaden nodded and hurried after the Slytherin.  
  
"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Dawn said after they had gone. She waved her hand towards the bed next to her where Harry was glaring at her.  
  
"Malfoy wouldn't know the truth if it came up and smacked him round the head." Harry grumbled from where he was sitting next to her on the bed. "And what the hell was that all about? I can't believe you put a silencing charm on me!"  
  
"You kept interrupting him. He deserved for us to hear him out if nothing else."  
  
"He deserves nothing! He almost got you killed!" Harry raved.  
  
"But he didn't. I'm fine, you're fine, and we're all fine."  
  
"How can you be so calm about this?"  
  
Dawn shrugged. "Probably something to do with nearly all my friend going evil at some point and them ending up kidnapping and/or torturing me at some point."  
  
"Oh." Harry said; how was he supposed to respond to that?  
  
"Harry; relax. I really think he's telling the truth." Harry snorted. "And if he isn't then we'll just kill him."  
  
"I don't like this."  
  
"I know; I don't like it either there was something bothering me about all that but I can't put my finger on it... Anyway I don't think that many people will like it. And that is why we're not going to tell them about him telling Voldermort about the prophecy, just that he's changed sides."  
  
"Are you crazy?"  
  
"Probably. I'll tell Buffy, but that's it...unless you want to tell anyone."  
  
Harry thought for a moment. "Tell Dumbledore; not Ron or Hermione though, they'll kill the traitorous bastard."  
  
"So you're not going to kill Malfoy?"  
  
"No." Harry relented.  
  
She kissed him. "Thank you. Oh, and by the way; last night was amazing."  
  
He grinned. "And you're ok? No regrets?"  
  
She frowned slightly. "No..."  
  
"But?" Harry suddenly felt a little worried. What if she didn't love him anymore?  
  
"Nothing, I just... When I thought about, you know, with you I guess I thought it would be more romantic and less in a hospital ward because the end of the world is coming."  
  
Harry's face fell. "I'm sorry."  
  
"What for? I don't regret doing it with you, just the timing. I love you, Harry."  
  
"I love you to."  
  
He kissed her lightly, but although it wasn't the devouring kisses of last night, it was still filled with passion.  
  
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Dawn and Harry had been released from the hospital wing not long after Draco's visit. Dawn had told Buffy and, once she had stopped the threats to disembowel him, she had accepted Draco onto the team. Buffy had insisting on telling Faith as she was going to be responsible for him during the fight. She too accepted him onto the team, but she was going to keep a very close eye on him.  
  
Buffy had paid a visit to Willow who was preparing herself to do the spell. She had told the Wicca about the demons Draco had told them about. Luckily a hundred or so demons wouldn't make that much of a difference in the grand scale of things, so there were no problems there.  
  
Willow had decided not to tell Buffy about her dream; she had enough to worry about. She had simply approached the two slayers who were going to be with her at the time of the spell and told them that there was the chance that she might go evil and at the first sign of her hair going black, they were to kill her. They had been confused, but had reluctantly agreed.  
  
The school had been told what was going on; that the final battle with Voldermort was coming sooner rather than later. They had reacted in different ways. Some in disbelief, some accepted it, some feared it and a few pledged their support to the (greatly expanded) Order.  
  
They were having their breakfast (and probably lunch when it came around) in the common rooms due to the massive amount of slayers living in the great hall and several other members of the Order coming and going.  
  
The worst part for everyone was the waiting. They didn't know if they would live or die or how long they would have to wait. They were ready to fight, even with Draco's report of Voldermort's small army of demons; now they just had to hang around until Voldermort was ready.  
  
All the Scoobies, Faith, Angel, Wes, Gunn, Dawn, Harry, Draco and Dumbledore mounted the dais. Draco looked around in alarm. There must be nearly double the amount of slayers here than he thought, and it was too late to get word to his father.  
  
He didn't like the sound of this plan. He had semi-warned his father that the slayers might try an attack and he expected the death eaters to be ready for some sort of action, but probably not on this scale.  
  
As Draco observed the people on the dais, he noticed that Buffy and Faith were looking at him like they wanted to kill him and Dumbledore was looking back at him with mild confusion on his features. He knew that they had been told; he'd have to watch his back around the slayers.  
  
To everyone's surprise, it was Faith who spoke first. "Hey! HEY! Are you ready to fight?"  
  
"YES!" Came the resounding reply.  
  
"So are we." She gestured to Willow, Dawn, Harry and everyone else standing on the platform.  
  
Buffy started to speak: "We have, err, acquired a port key that will lead us to right outside the caves where he is gathering his forces. As far as we know, Voldermort will be in a room in the centre of the house, in his throne room. Dawn, Harry, Spike, Giles and I will head for there, fighting whatever guards we come up against; they don't expect us so we don't think we'll have much to do.  
  
"Willow will stay clear of the building to work the mojo and she will be guarded by Rona and Vi. All the rest of you will be with Xander, Faith, Angel, Wes or Gunn. The Order will be going in first with Faith and Angel to help until Willow's spell can work."  
  
"I've got everyone who was fighting in Cleveland." Faith announced. "You guys have the most experience, so we'll be going in first through the front entrance and killing all the guards on our way down. You'll form half the front line. We're also gonna have a regiment of wizards with our group and him over there." Faith pointed to Draco who shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"Everyone from the Asian hellmouth is with me." Angel said quietly. "We're going in the back way after Faith's lot have gone. You guys will form the rest of the front line. All the witch-slayers who've been staying at Hogwarts with Dawn are with me too. You six should make sure you have your wands as well as any weapons."  
  
Xander took over the speaking. "All you guys from the Australian or the South American slayer centres and any volunteers from Hogwarts are with me. We're taking care of the death eaters and demons that escape. We have the biggest group, so if the signal is given, then half the slayers from our group will join those fighting in the caves."  
  
Wes stepped forward. "Gunn and I will each have half of the European slayers plus the aurors and other wizard that are fighting. Half will follow Angel in with Gunn and the rest will go through the house after Faith has cleared it to get to the main cave and stop any escaping that way. You are the second line."  
  
Buffy started speaking again. "We leave in one hour. Get the weapons you want and we will have portal access to any others we might need. Good Luck."  
  
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"Dawn!" Buffy grabbed her younger sister's arm.  
  
"What? And, by the way, ow!" The youngest Summers sister was picking out her weapons. She settles on a sword that was _technically_ Buffy's, but sisters share everything, right?  
  
"Don't go." Buffy didn't even notice that Dawn was pinching one of her favourite swords.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Dawn, I can't lose you and I can't save you this time. Please stay here, don't fight. You'll die, I can feel it." Buffy pleaded.  
  
"Buffy, you heard the prophecy. I have to go; 'without each other they shall surely fail' remember? I-I'm sorry."  
  
The two sisters hugged each other tightly and that is how you would find them until it was time to leave.  
  
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One hour later the slayers, wizards and everyone else fighting that morning were crammed in the Great hall.  
  
It was decided that Dawn, Buffy, Faith, Angel, Giles and Spike would go first and clear the area and then Dawn would open a portal for everyone else to come through.  
  
"Are you ready?" Buffy asked Dawn.  
  
Dawn nodded, not trusting herself to speak.  
  
"Let's go, on the count of three. One...two...three."  
  
The six grabbed hold of the port key and felt the tug around their stomach as they were transported to Malfoy Manor. Giles immediately pulled out his wand and the others dropped into defensive stances around Dawn who started to open the portal.  
  
The portal had to be massive; they wanted to get over a thousand wizards and slayers through it in seven minutes. The minute the portal opened people started pouring through and running clear lead by Xander, and they continued to come through as it got bigger and bigger. Within eight minutes everyone was through and Dawn shrunk the portal so that it was big enough for just two people.  
  
All the slayers and wizards began to separate into their groups under the cover of the woodland in Malfoy Manor. They were trying to be quiet, but when you have over a thousand troops it's not that easy. It took nearly fifteen minutes before everyone stopped bustling about, and there had been no sign of any death eaters.  
  
"Everyone ready?" Buffy asked of each group leaders.  
  
A series of nods responded. "Yes."  
  
Angel and Gunn's charges started sneaking round to the back door that led directly into the main cavern. The group who would be confronting Voldermort and Faith's group made their way towards the entrance of Malfoy Manor. And Xander's troop fanned out to cover the perimeter.  
  
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When the bulk of the army had taken their positions, three had not moved: Willow, Rona and Vi. The spot they were in was a long way from the manor and sheltered from their view, yet they could still see what was happening.  
  
The three quickly set about getting everything in place. Willow took out the scythe and laid it in front of her. She sat cross-legged and closed her eyes to slip into the trance state that would be needed for her to perform the spell.  
  
Whilst she was doing this, Vi lit a circle of candles all around her and Rona placed four tablets with different symbols painted on them in front of Willow, along with an urn of holy water and a bunch of eight white roses, tied together with a piece of string.  
  
They were ready.  
  
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"Oi, kid; why aren't there any guards?" Faith asked in a low voice as they crept towards the mansion.  
  
They had left Wesley and his part of the second line further back so that the Manor wouldn't be too crowded. They would enter when it was decided that enough time had been given for Faith to get into the underground cavern.  
  
"What? Put death eaters on the grounds where anyone can see them?" Draco responded scornfully.  
  
"Watch it, kid." Faith growled back. "You're still on probation."  
  
Dawn was gripping Harry's hand tightly. "You ready?" She whispered.  
  
He took a moment to think about his answer. "As I'll ever be."  
  
"Me neither."  
  
He gave her hand a squeeze as they approached the large door.  
  
"One, two, three!" Buffy and Faith kicked down the door as if it were paper.  
  
The slayers and wizards in the group had their weapons raised. But there was no-one in the entrance hall, nor could they hear anyone close to them. They entered the Manor cautiously; looking up and around for possible threats...but they didn't look down.  
  
If they had looked down to their ankles, then they would have seen the red beam, not unlike a muggle burglar alarm, that they had all walked through.  
  
"Something's wrong. Someone should have heard that door crashing in." Faith commented; "This is almost too ea-"  
  
"Don't!" Buffy exclaimed. Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy but Buffy just shrugged. "She might jinx us."  
  
They walked in silence to the main stairway everyone keeping an ear out for potential threats. There were none.  
  
"This is where we part, B."  
  
"Take care of yourself." Buffy said seriously.  
  
Faith nodded. "You too. Take it easy guys." She waved at the small, but powerful, group and led her half of the front line down the stairs.  
  
Considering that there were over two hundred pairs of feet treading down those stairs, it was surprisingly quiet. 'Too quiet.' Faith couldn't help but think.  
  
They continued down the stairs, wands and weapons raised and ready. Faith opened her senses as much as she could.  
  
The mini-army reached a long corridor at the bottom of the stairs. Faith's spider sense was going wild. Something wasn't right down here. She stopped, signalling those behind her to do the same.  
  
There were people down here; she could tell. Waiting probably, but for what? She heard a whisper from along one of the walls and fired her crossbow at the noise.  
  
Two gasps came. One from the death eater against the wall, the second from a slayer behind her. They were the first casualties of this battle.  
  
The lights in the corridor lit up to reveal death eaters standing on a platform around the walls. Their black robes seemed to shine in the light of the flame as the slayers and wizards below them took in the scene. There may have been silence for a moment, but then battle overtook them.  
  
The last thought Faith had before ditching her crossbow in favour of a long sword was that it had been a trap and, for the second time in under a week, they had been betrayed to Lord Voldermort.  
  
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'Angel's army' had also left their back-up at the door. Gunn watched as the group went out of sight and listened for much longer. They were going to give Angel a chance to clear the way to the massive caves where the death eaters were gathering before following.  
  
But, as always, things didn't go to plan. Battle cries reached their ears not five minutes after Angel had left. They weren't the sounds of picking off twenty odd demons that were guarding the entrance; Angel had been ambushed.  
  
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It took about three seconds for their carefully laid battle plans to go to pot. They didn't even get into the main lair before they were attacked and both first and second lines were fighting full out against demons that they didn't know about.  
  
In Malfoy manor, the slayers were at a distinct disadvantage. About half of the girls were using crossbows so they could fire from a distance and they had the Order of the Phoenix to help pick off the death eaters, but it was hard for them to get a clear shot. The death eaters had probably killed more of their own than slayers. They just didn't care who they hit.  
  
Kennedy was fighting two of the death eaters by hand. She had lost her daggers long ago, but she had also managed to kick their wands away. She sent one of them flying backwards with a kick to the abdomen and gave the other's neck a quick twist. She repeated the same manoeuvre on the other death eater that was just about to stand back up and turned around.  
  
Across the room another death eater was observing from the side lines. He noticed Kennedy standing alone, about to launch back into the fight. He raised his wand and fired one of the unforgivable curses at her.  
  
Faith pulled Draco behind a pile of rubble that had fallen in. "Hey, kid; I thought you said that there were only a hundred demons. I can see at least a hundred here and no-one would send all their forces to one place when we know of at least three entrances."  
  
Draco smirked. "I did say that, didn't I?" He said in a cool voice.  
  
"You've been spying for them!"  
  
"I wouldn't say that; I just informed my father that wizards and slayers from all over the world were gathering at Hogwarts. They know nothing of your plan...yet."  
  
"What do you mean?" Faith asked suspiciously.  
  
"I couldn't tell them what was going on because you had such a close eye on me!" He spat. "But there's nothing stopping me now."  
  
Draco moved as if to go to one of the death eaters; his father who was standing out of the way on a small platform ordering various death eaters about and firing the odd curse. Faith recovered from her shock at his blatant double crossing and moved after him.  
  
"Oh, I think there is something stopping you."  
  
Draco turned around as if to say something, but he was dead before he even opened his mouth. Draco fell to the ground, blood oozing out from the wound in his chest. Within second his body was trampled on by demons, death eaters, wizards and slayers, all fighting to get the upper hand.  
  
Faith surveyed the carnage around her. It hadn't even been twenty minutes but the house was trashed; several of the walls had been forcefully removed to give the fighters more room. The walls that were still standing were covered in blood and grime, even the high ceiling was dirtied beyond recognition of the pristine manor they originally entered.  
  
Bodies littered the floor. Faith was relieved to see that they were mostly demons and death eaters, but Faith had already seen four of her comrades' fall to various wizards, and knew that there would be more deaths that she hadn't seen.  
  
"Get their wands!" She yelled, knowing that that was their best chance at the moment. "Snap them in half!"  
  
Kennedy was weaving in and out the hand-to-hand fights that were going on throughout the hall. She spotted her target. 'Kill her' the voice in her head was saying, 'slit her throat. She doesn't care if you die, why should you care if she does?'  
  
Kennedy picked up a sword out of one of her fallen comrades hands and moved silently behind Faith who was fighting one of the death eaters. She raised her sword ready to strike.  
  
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Meanwhile the smallest section of the group were also having problems. They had left Faith at the staircase and carried on along the quiet corridors all alert. Harry and Giles held their wands out in front of them while Buffy and Spike held their weapons by their side, but poised to strike at a moments notice.  
  
Harry stopped and pointed to a door. "In there." He said recognising it from when he and Dawn had been held there.  
  
Dawn pulled out her sword, also known as Buffy's sword that she had 'borrowed'.  
  
"Are you sur- wait, is that my sword?" The blond slayer turned on her sister.  
  
"Err I – Oh look, the door!" Dawn said, almost relieved to have something to distract her big sister with, although she did wish it wasn't the entrance of the room that could lead to her death.  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Ready?"  
  
At the nods of her team, Buffy opened the door cautiously. They had expected to see Voldermort and maybe a few death eaters, but the room was empty. They went inside, still on their guard and looked around. They heard a hissing noise from behind them. Spike swung around and tried to open the door which had just shut itself, but it was no use; they were trapped.  
  
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Willow had been muttering under her breath ever since she had begun the spell.  
  
"Goddess; rid this place of black magic. Take the power from those who wish to use it for darkness." She felt the power start to drift into her. "Oh...my...goddess."  
  
White light started to pour down her arms into the scythe which started buzzing. There was a great flash of lightening and the world went dark as the moon slid across the sun like an eclipse.  
  
Then it begun. All over the manor and down in the caves the death eaters stopped. They could feel their magic being ripped from them. Black light cackled all over the grounds and flew towards where Willow was sitting.  
  
The slayers watched by the light of the candles and the glow of the scythe, their hair blowing about on the previously still afternoon. They saw all the black lightening enter the scythe, turning the white glow to black.  
  
But it didn't stop with the death eaters. Willow was prepared for approximately one hundred demons' energy to also be drawn to the scythe. She wasn't prepared for way over a thousand.  
  
The slayers and wizards looked on as the demons and vampires they were fighting started to stagger. They same black energy came out of them as it did with the death eaters and started to fly over the grounds.  
  
Inside Faith, Angel, Gunn and Wesley drew the slayers attention back to the matter at hand and they started to hack their way through the wavering demons with a vengeance, and a lot faster than they had previously.  
  
As the energy flew into the scythe, the grey glow darkened so that it was almost black. The energy kept coming and entering the scythe until it could hold no more. But even then it didn't stop.  
  
The black burnt up Willow's arms. She screamed, but couldn't remove her hands from the scythe; it was almost like she was holding onto an electric cable and getting an electric shock.  
  
Rona and Vi panicked; this wasn't part of the plan.  
  
"The scythe's overloaded!" Vi cried.  
  
"I can see that! We have to get her away from it!" Rona responded, looking around for something to help. There was no way in hell that she was touching the scythe!  
  
She found a rather sturdy looking tree branch that looked like it may do the trick. She swung the branch at Willow, breaking several of the Wicca's ribs in the process, and knocked her away from the scythe.  
  
There was a flash of blinding light and they were all thrown backwards. The moon slid back allowing the sun to shine again and the black lightening in the air seemed to disappear.  
  
Rona and Vi both got up uninjured. They went over to Willow who was still lying unconscious on the ground. And what they saw had them raising their weapons just in case.  
  
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[A/N: Buffy & co. still don't know about the hundreds of demons or about Draco's betrayal; as far as they're concerned it's business as usual, for now.]  
  
'Buffy's group' were still trying to find a way out of the little room when they saw the bright flash of light.  
  
"What was that?" Dawn asked.  
  
"It came from the portal- Oh God; Willow! She must have done the spell, do you think it worked?"  
  
"I hope so; otherwise we don't stand a chance." Giles said gloomily.  
  
"Way to have confidence in the troops, Giles. We'll win, I know we will." But Buffy didn't sound so convinced.  
  
"Bloody 'ell!" Spike exclaimed from the corner.  
  
One of the tapestries on the wall was gathering itself up to reveal a narrow passage.  
  
"You don't think that they were expecting us do you?" Harry asked, fighting to keep his voice steady.  
  
Buffy looked alarmed. "How?"  
  
"I don't know; but it seems awfully convenient that there are no guards, no- one in the throne room and its set up so that we get locked in and a doorway just happens to open."  
  
"It does seem suspicious." Giles commented.  
  
"So; what do we do?" Dawn asked.  
  
"I guess we go up there; it's not like we have that many options. Do we? Does anybody have any options?" Buffy asked, almost begging them to have another option.  
  
Everyone shook their heads to the slayers question.  
  
"Oh. Then I guess we go up; stay alert."  
  
Buffy went through first, then Giles, and then Dawn and Harry with Spike bringing up the rear.  
  
The tunnel wasn't very long. They could see light at the end from the beginning...they could also see death eaters and Voldermort.  
  
They entered the room, weapons at the ready, but they weren't attacked by Voldermort or the thirteen death eaters he had at his sides.  
  
"Well this is... inconvenient." He hissed. "My informant told me that you might attack at some point, but this was just too soon. I wasn't ready."  
  
"Yeah, sorry about that." Spike said patronisingly.  
  
"Silence!" Voldermort stopped and thought. "Oh well, kill them." He ordered the death eaters at his sides.  
  
Buffy dived out the way of the wand of a death eater, but the charm he was saying didn't come. "Willow did it!" Buffy exclaimed.  
  
Voldermort looked mildly impressed, before signalling to the death eaters who all removed their masks and took out swords. "Meet my specialist crew of sword fighters." Voldermort sneered before battle ensued.  
  
The room was filled with the sounds of swords clashing. Each 'good guy' had to fight at least two 'baddies' and some of them weren't strong enough. Harry had only been training with a sword for a short time, so fell back on his trusty wand, stuperfying his opponents until Voldermort freed them, it seemed that his magic wasn't affected by Willow's spell and he watched his death eaters from the side lines.  
  
Giles was using his sword, but also held his wand in his left hand so he too could stuperfy the odd death eater. Buffy and Spike always seemed to have two or three death eaters attacking them, but they never got close enough to be killed, well mostly.  
  
Dawn was struggling. She had always relied on her magic, but it seemed that whatever spell Voldermort had put on the manor when she was kidnapped still applied and although she could fight one, or possibly two, vampires without magic, she was having problems with the three highly trained death eaters.  
  
It didn't take long, however, for Buffy and Spike to gain the upper hand in their fights. Soon Buffy had killed three death eaters and Spike had killed two. Buffy looked around, Harry was in the most danger. He seemed to have lost his wand and was trying to fight with his sword against the three death eaters. So she joined him with an anxious glance at the rapidly tiring Dawn.  
  
One of those attacking Giles joined his 'ally' in fighting the blond vampire, but he soon killed them both and made to help Dawn.  
  
"I'm here Niblet." He said as he got to her side.  
  
Dawn looked up at him wearily. "Spike! Thank G-"Her eyes went wide. Spike smelt blood and looked down. There was about half a sword poking out of her abdomen, the hilt sticking out by about four inches the other side of her body.  
  
"Oh" Dawn exclaimed, almost in surprise before she dropped to the floor.  
  
There was a green wave; the essence of the key, which flooded the building, giving Giles and Spike that bit of extra energy they needed to defeat the death eaters still attacking them.  
  
Harry rushed to her side having, with Buffy's help, defeated those attacking him; but it was too late.  
  
Dawn was dead.  
  
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**NEXT CHAPTER:** (which will _hopefully_ be less than 5500 words) What has/ will happen to Willow, does Kennedy kill Faith and can Harry cope without Dawn? (There will be NO resurrection spell and Dawn is DEFINITELY DEAD she 'aint faking folks). Also, more on all three prophecies.  
  
Only two chapters left!!! I don't know what I'll do with myself when this stories over with, start a new one I suppose! You know the drill; the more reviews I get, the faster I update. So Please Review! 


	24. Prophecy Girls and guy

Thanks to all the reviewers:  
  
**TTrunks:** Glad you liked the chapter, I hope you like this one too.  
  
**Charmed Chick**: I love the Buffy Baddies too, but I can't write them for toffee. Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**Jazzy Punker:** Kennedy is under the imperious curse, that's why she wants to kill Faith. Sorry, I should've made it clearer. Thanks for reviewing.  
  
**NixiNox:** Sorry I annoyed you! I've got to say, the thought of Dawn being pregnant never occurred to me (which is weird 'cause I wrote a fic based on that a while back). But she will not get pregnant in this story.  
  
**Bunny Kat;** Please don't be angry with me! I didn't mean to kill them, it was an accident!  
  
**Matt**: Thanks for proofing and reviewing.  
  
**Kev:** I guess you'll have to wait and see. A masterpiece? I don't think so, but I'm flattered you said it.  
  
**A/N**: The beginning of this chapter overlaps the end of the last one. Also through out there are time overlapping bits, but I think it's pretty clear, just keep that in mind.  
  
**CHAPTER 24- PROPHECY GIRLS (except for Harry; who is, of course, a Prophecy Guy)**  
  
[A/N: Before Willow's spell]  
  
Kennedy raised her sword, ready to strike at Faith. Faith killed the death eater she was fighting and took a step forward, not noticing the slayer under the imperious curse standing behind her.  
  
She was about to fight another death eater when she noticed a shadow on the wall next to her. She spun round as quickly as she could and raised her own blade to block Kennedy's.  
  
Faith's eyes suddenly bulged with recognition. "Kennedy? What are you doing?"  
  
Kennedy didn't reply. She raised her sword again, but was blocked by Faith who pushed her back as hard as she could.  
  
Kennedy stumbled back...right into the path of an Avada Kedavra. Faith watched in horror as one of the girls she had trained fell to the floor and didn't bounce right back up like she did in training. She'd killed Kennedy.  
  
At the same time, little Emily Flinch-Fletchedy was fighting a man twice her size. She looked rather clumsy to begin with, but soon got into the rhythm; punch, kick, punch-punch.  
  
To say the death eater was surprised by the young girls power is an understatement. But he didn't get the chance to be surprised for long and Emily moved onto her next opponent.  
  
Jaden was fighting another death eater, but hers was a woman. Like Emily, she was fighting without a weapon, but had her wand safely tucked away.  
  
She aimed a punch at the death eater's face and the white mask went clattering to the ground. Jade gasped. "Pansy?"  
  
The girl smirked evilly. "Hello housemate." She aimed a sloppy punch at Jade who ducked easily.  
  
"You bitch!" Jaden shrieked before lunging at the older girl in a flurry of kicks and punches. Somehow, Pansy managed to stay standing during the slayers onslaught. The smirk on her face widened as she looked over Jade's shoulder.  
  
Jade cautiously turned around. A wand was pointed right at her. The death eater's lips started to move into the words she had learnt to dread.  
  
Jaden grabbed Pansy's arm and swung her round, placing her in-between the curse and the slayer. She drew her wand and aimed a body bind curse back at the death eater before Parkinson's body had a chance to touch the ground.  
  
Jade took in a shuddering breath and stepped over the body of Pansy Parkinson and back into the fight.  
  
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[A/N: After Willow's spell, but before Dawn's death]  
  
Faith and Wesley's slayers had soon joined Angel and Gunn's in the main cavern. Willow's spell had been a blessing as any demons with magical powers and the wizards were both weakened. That left them with good old fashioned trolls, giants, vampires and other such demons that relied on brute force.  
  
They came across the odd demon or death eater that had escaped Willow's spell, but they were soon dealt with by the masses of slayers or the hundreds of good wizards still possessing their magic.  
  
Outside, night had fallen. This meant that Xander's troops were busier now as various demons tried to escape. The demons were quickly shot down by the waiting slayers and Hogwarts students; they were finding it so easy that Xander actually sent thirty slayers into the caves to help out in there.  
  
Although the slayers and demons had the skill advantage, the demons still outnumbered them and they were having a fairly difficult time getting the numbers down to something manageable.  
  
In one fairly small part of the caves, Ginny was fighting two demons with a slayer from the Asian hellmouth that she had become sort of friendly with.  
  
Ginny plunged her sword into one of the demons stomach and sliced upwards splitting it in two. The demon fell to the floor like so many had that afternoon and evening and added his blood to the rest.  
  
Ginny immediately moved onto the next demon. She lunged at it with her sword, but it dodged. She tried again, but once again the demon side stepped the blow. The demon raised the sword of his own and lashed out intending to take Ginny's head, but she ducked and rolled to the side.  
  
The demon may not have got its intended target, but it did decapitate something. The slayer standing behind Ginny had not seen the sword coming so did not attempt to move from the danger she was in.  
  
Seconds later she dropped to the ground; she didn't even see her death coming and the daggers in her hands clattered to the ground uselessly. Ginny looked down at her dead almost-friend.  
  
She didn't see the demon raise his sword over her head and prepare to strike.  
  
"Ginny!" Flick shouted from where she was fighting, but Ginny seemed to be in a trance staring down at the body.  
  
Flick shoved the demon away from her and leapt through the air like only slayers can. She swung her sword decapitating the demon before landing gracefully.  
  
"That could've been me." Ginny said softly. "If I hadn't moved...I'm gonna be sick."  
  
Flick stood guard over her friend as she emptied the contents of her stomach. When she was done, Ginny wiped her mouth and straitened up. She took in the scene around her.  
  
Angel was in game face. He fought like a man possessed, who in a way he was; he swung his axe around, knocking three vampires back and decapitating another all in one swing. On vampire jumped on his back while another charged at his stomach forcing him to drop his sword.  
  
Skye was dodging a demon that was slicing at her with a heavy axe, her own weapon laying a few yards away as she desperately tried to reach it. Jade had her sword risen above her head, clashed with the sword of a demon each pushing to see who would back down the first. Jaden seemed to be losing. Flick was trapped in a circle of five demons. They closed in on her, forcing her to the ground where she had no escape.  
  
Then a green wave of what felt like pure energy swept through the cavern. The fighting seemed to stop momentarily, but when it started again it was like the tide had turned.  
  
Ginny regained her wits and plunged back into the battle, sword raised and ready for action.  
  
Angel threw the two vampires off him with an almighty shake and swooped down to pick up his sword and beheaded two demons in one powerful stroke.  
  
Skylar ducked and rolled away from the demon attacking her, picking up her weapon part way through. She stood up behind the demon and forced the blade through its neck killing it.  
  
Jaden gathered all her strength and pushed the demon away from her. She dropped her sword and sliced across the brownish grey monster's mid section.  
  
Flick kicked out, throwing two green demons away from her. She punched and kicked to get rid of the rest before straddling a demon that was about to get up and giving his neck a sharp twist.  
  
Gunn and Angel stood back-to-back, taking a momentary break from the fighting.  
  
"Looks like the odds have gone in our favour." Gunn said with a look around that showed him demons falling to the ground.  
  
"I wouldn't be so sure." Angel replied. Gunn shot his friend/ boss a puzzled look. "I recognised that energy; it was the key."  
  
"You mean Dawn's dead?" Gunn gasped.  
  
Angel nodded before ducking an attacking vampire and quickly killing it.  
  
Luna Lovegood was one of a kind. She was always off in her dream world, and now was no exception. She'd lost count of the number of time's Dawn had told her to stay focused, yet during a life-or-death battle she couldn't quite seem to recall that particular fact. The fact that she was still alive was more dumb luck than anything else.  
  
Luna was quite possibly the strongest of all the witch-slayers, but she lacked the speed and motivation that would make her one of the greats, and it was her strength that was keeping her alive. Most of the demons she had fought had been dumb and slow and she had slayed them easily.  
  
'Father would be fascinated by this.' Luna thought as she fatally stabbed a stumpy blue demon which was quickly replaced with a taller green one. She lunged at her new opponent who quickly dodged. Luna stumbled slightly before she regained her balanced and kicked out connecting with the demon's shin.  
  
The demon howled, but the sound was lost in the din of battle. Luna gave a satisfied smirk as the demon hopped about. When she saw it had regained its balance, she raised her sword to kill the demon. The demon also prepared to strike, lifting its sharp scythe above its head. Both of them hit each other. Luna decapitated the demon just as he dropped his sword down in front of him. Luna screamed as the sharp blade penetrated the skin around her wrist. The demon fell to the floor. But so did Luna's weapon and the hand that had been holding it.  
  
A normal person may have passed out from blood loss or pain, but not a slayer. The blood had already started clotting at the point where her wrist should be attached as Luna dumbly clutched her useless arm to her body.  
  
Pain is a funny thing; it can either make you totally zone out, or make you more alert. Luckily for Luna, in her case it was the latter. With a speed no-one knew she possessed, she dodged her way to the nearest slayer who happened to be Emily.  
  
"Shit!" Emily saw upon seeing her friend. "I-is that your blood?"  
  
Luna nodded silently and allowed Emily to see her injury. Emily flinched at the sight; she had never seen anything like it.  
  
"We've got to get you out of here." Emily lead Luna out of the caverns, fighting off whatever they came up against.  
  
When they got outside, both girls gulped in the fresh air. It had smelt a bit ripe underground anyway, but when you combined it with the stench of sweat and the iron smell of blood, it was not at all pleasant.  
  
In the distance they saw Xander and his crew pointing various weapons at them, but when he saw who it was he gave them the order to put down their arsenal. They started across the grounds, as did Xander and they met in the middle.  
  
"Injury?" Xander asked unnecessarily as he was already inspecting Luna's wound. "Can you take her to the portal?" He asked efficiently; he'd seen so many battle injuries that nothing surprised him anymore. "She needs to get this seen to."  
  
Emily nodded and she and Luna stumbled forward. Xander swept Luna up into his arms, not caring about the blood he was getting on his shirt, although he did briefly wonder if it was the same mystical forces that caused Buffy and Dawn to wear high heels to battle that made him wear a nice new shirt.  
  
When they reached the portal, Xander stepped through with Luna, closely followed by Emily. He lay her down gently on a bed and turned to Emily.  
  
"I've got to get back to my troops, stay with her and make sure she's okay."  
  
Xander ran back through the portal to his group where his appointed second, Ron Weasly, was commanding the slayers to fire at two death eaters who were trying to escape.  
  
Meanwhile in the caves, their friends were beating back the armies of demons and vampires. The number of demons may have been decreasing, but there was still the matter of the powerful wizard to defeat.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Harry held Dawn close to him. She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't. Off to the side Giles stood shocked; he had thought that he was prepared for this to happen; but can you ever truly be ready and he never expected her to die like this, killed by a humble death eater's sword.  
  
Buffy stood off to the side staring at her sister's body. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but she didn't acknowledge them, nor did she acknowledge Spike's arm draped around her shoulders. She just wanted to hide; to go back to when Dawn was a baby and everything was easy.  
  
Buffy could feel the outside world becoming more and more detached to her. She felt herself drift further and further into her mind. She saw herself sitting at a little plastic table cradling a doll. Her younger self looked up in surprise.  
  
"You're back!" Young Buffy said to her older counterpart. The six year old didn't wait for a reply but ran to her front door, pigtails bobbing merrily as she greeted her parents. "Mommy! Dad! You're back!"  
  
Buffy watched as her younger self took baby Dawn into her arms. She was so pure. Young Buffy turned to her.  
  
"Isn't she little? I just want to hold her like this forever and ever and keep her safe." She said with all the innocence of a child and the love of a big sister. She turned back to her mother.  
  
"I could take care of her sometimes, if you need a helper. Can't we?" Both Buffy's looked at each other for a moment, understanding. "Mom; can I look after her?"  
  
Buffy watched the scene unfold; the perfect family. She could almost hear Dawn urging her to go back and not to give up. Her younger self turned to speak to her for one last time.  
  
"You're going now aren't you?" she said sounding much older than just her six years.  
  
Old Buffy nodded, Dawn's voice still in her head telling her to help the others.  
  
"You're not coming back, are you?"  
  
"No; I'm not." Buffy spoke for the first time.  
  
Young Buffy nodded. "Goodbye, Buffy." She looked down at the precious bundle in her arms. "Take care of her."  
  
With a jolt Buffy realised that she was back in the present. The last words of her inner self echoed in her mind: Take care of her.  
  
It was too late for that now; Dawn was dead. But she could make sure the...thing that ordered her death was put down, for good.  
  
Buffy cleared her throat. "Harry? We've got to go after Voldermort."  
  
The young wizard looked up at her stunned. "I can't; I can't do this anymore."  
  
"You've got to; you're the only person who can." Buffy pleaded. "Do you think Dawn would want you to give in? After all she's sacrificed." The tears were falling again, would they ever stop?  
  
"Buffy;" Giles said softly, "we're tired and injured, do you really think we stand a chance?"  
  
"We have to...for Dawnie." Buffy's voice cracked.  
  
Harry lay Dawn down on the floor gently, slowly stood up and spoke dully. "Which way did he go?"  
  
"Up there." Spike said huskily, pointing to an almost hidden spiral staircase and starting to move towards it.  
  
Harry followed Spike up the narrow stairs towards a tower at the top of the room. They entered the room cautiously; it appeared to be empty.  
  
Harry walked into the middle of the room, holding his wand out in front of him.  
  
"Shielus." A voice said from the corner, and Voldermort appeared as if from nowhere.  
  
"We meet again, Harry." He spat.  
  
Giles, Spike and Buffy tried to go to Harry, but they seemed to run into an invisible wall.  
  
Voldermort laughed cruelly. "I think this is best if it stays between you and me, don't you?"  
  
Harry looked back to his friends and then to Voldermort. It looked like he would have to do this on his own after all.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Meanwhile; Rona and Vi still stood ready to kill Willow if she turned out to be evil. She hadn't moved since the spell, unless you count the twitching that was pretty much constant.  
  
The thing that worried them most, however, was the light flickering all over her body. About half the light was white, and the rest black and it seemed to be having its own little battle.  
  
The black energy (the magic drawn from the death eaters and demons) would try to push the white energy back so that it could take over Willow's body, and then the white energy would push back to try and regain its hold on Willow.  
  
Whilst this happened, the two slayers were powerless to do anything but watch as Willow appeared to have a bad dream.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Willow found herself back in Sunnydale Park, but this time it was night time. She looked around and saw she was not alone. She was in the presence of the figure who haunted her nightmares; black hair, gothic outfit, dark lips. It all added up to one thing; Dark Willow.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Willow asked a lot more boldly that she felt.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" Dark Willow took a few steps closer to Willow and stared her straight in the eye. "I want my body back."  
  
"It was never yours." A new voice said.  
  
"Tara." Willow breathed. "I should've known you'd come."  
  
Tara smiled briefly at Willow, before addressing them both. "I am here as a messenger; I can't interfere. Originally you were one person; the good presiding over dark. Then something changed and you became two; light and dark, good and evil. Since then you have been separate, two people sharing one body. You locked the dark inside of you, but it didn't go away. Now, dark energy has entered the body so you are both equally strong; you will not leave here until one of you beats the other. The stronger person will triumph; whoever wants it most will win. Do you understand?"  
  
Dark Willow nodded with a sneer and regular Willow nodded with a gulp. "So we duel?"  
  
Tara nodded. "Yes; when you are both ready."  
  
The Willow's looked at each other, preparing themselves for the fight ahead. Two will enter, but only one shall leave.  
  
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[A/N: Directly after Dawn's death]  
  
When Dawn awoke; she was painfully aware of the stab wound in her abdomen. She tried to move, but winced as the pain travelled up her body. But then, the wound closed itself and she was filled with an enormous sense of peace.  
  
She realised that she must be in heaven, and this is what Buffy felt for the six months that she was dead. Dawn stood up and took a couple of steps forward experimentally. It was then she noticed her surroundings.  
  
Dawn almost laughed when she realised that she was sitting on a cloud; it was just so cliché! She looked over the edge and that's when it hit her. She was dead. She could see all of Malfoy Manor, even inside the buildings; Willow lying in the grounds with Rona and Vi next to her; Faith, Angel, Wes and Gunn commanding the troops and urging them forward; her slayers fighting with all their energy; Harry cradling her body whilst the others looked on.  
  
Suddenly she was aware of a change of scenery. She was standing in a house that looked vaguely familiar to her. There was a young blond girl with her hair in pigtails sitting with her back to her.  
  
The girl turned to look at Dawn and the brunette gasped in surprise. "Buffy?"  
  
Yong Buffy didn't say anything. She turned back to her doll and then spoke, but not to Dawn. She spoke to the other Buffy, the one Dawn knew so well.  
  
"You're back."  
  
"Buffy!" Dawn said, but Buffy either didn't hear or took no notice.  
  
Dawn watched as 'she' was brought home for the first time and heard Buffy's promise to protect her.  
  
Something was familiar about all this. But she couldn't put her finger on it...  
  
Willow's voice echoed in her mind. "It killed her when Glory took you, not literally. She got trapped in her memories of when you were a baby."  
  
Trapped? But Willow wasn't here to get her out this time. What if she stayed in here forever? What if she can't get back and help?  
  
Dawn; forgetting that Buffy didn't hear her; tried desperately to reach her sister. "Buffy; you have to get out of here. You can't give up; please, Buffy! The others need you, you have to fight!"  
  
Dawn was back on her cloud, but it was different. There was a stone archway with ivy climbing all over it and roses planted at the sides.  
  
Dawn looked over the edge again and sighed in relief. Buffy had snapped out of it and gone over to Harry. Now they were climbing the stairs to what looked like an empty room. She saw Voldermort appear and trap Harry inside with him.  
  
That scared her. Harry shouldn't be doing this on his own; he needed people to help him!  
  
"Dawn?"  
  
She didn't even need to turn around to recognise that voice. It had haunted her dreams for nearly three years. "Mom?"  
  
Joyce Summers stood in the archway dressed in a long white dress. A bright light shone from behind her and gave the impression that she was a Goddess.  
  
"It's good to see you again, honey."  
  
Dawn rushed over and enveloped her mother in a big hug, which she gratefully returned.  
  
"Oh, Dawnie; I've been longing for this day, but I've been dreading it too."  
  
"Me too." Came Dawn's muffled reply from somewhere in her mother's dress.  
  
"My precious little pumpkin belly." Joyce said stroking Dawn's hair affectionately. "I love you darling, you and your sister. I love you both very much and what I'm about to say might not make much sense now, but later it will.  
  
"You have to go back Dawn." Joyce said firmly.  
  
"What? Why? I want to stay with you." Dawn pouted.  
  
"I know you do sweetheart, but your time isn't over yet. You are still needed down there." Joyce replied softly.  
  
"It's hard there; and it hurts. Here, it's...peaceful. Don't make me go back." Dawn begged.  
  
Joyce led her daughter to the edge of the cloud and forced her to look over. "If you don't go back, they'll die, all of them. If you do then at least they stand a chance. To ask you to stay would be selfish of me; you're needed there."  
  
Dawn winced as Harry was thrown back against the shield and even she could see that Voldermort was only playing with him; he could kill Harry at any moment.  
  
"Together they will fight the darkness; they will stand united." Joyce quoted. "Both can triumph, for they make a formidable team; but without each other they shall surely fail. You've heard the prophecy. If either of you tries to fight alone you would fail; the only time you can win if when you're together, when you combine your powers."  
  
"I have to go back, don't I?" Dawn's eyes brimmed with tears, as did her mother's.  
  
Joyce nodded, wiping away a stray tear that had spilled over. "Be brave, my darling; I'm so proud of you, of both of you." Joyce slowly walked back through the arch. "I'll keep waiting for you."  
  
Dawn blinked back the tears, but when she opened her eyes, she wasn't in heaven. She was back in the tower.  
  
Dawn held her hand out in front of her and twisted it, her eyes wide in shock. She was glowing bright green! Her key powers weren't even supposed to work, but here they were, as green as... something really green.  
  
Her head snapped up as she heard a thump from up the stairs followed by an exclamation of pain. She got to her feet, took a deep breath and forced herself up the stairs.  
  
She entered the room where the fighting was happening. To say the others were shocked was an understatement. Surprisingly it was Voldermort who spoke first.  
  
"You! But- but you're dead!" He stuttered, under any other circumstances it would've been funny.  
  
"Sorry to disappoint you." Dawn turned to Buffy, Spike and Giles. "Hey, guys." She said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.  
  
"Dawn?" Spike croaked.  
  
"It's me; you guys should know better than to leave a Summers' girl for dead."  
  
Buffy pulled her younger sister into a hug, using all her slayer strength.  
  
"Buffy- can't- breath!" Dawn panted.  
  
"Sorry, I'm sorry."  
  
"It's ok." Dawn soothed.  
  
Buffy looked up into her sisters eyes; "Is it?" she asked seeing a haunted look that she recognised from when she was resurrected, although it wasn't nearly as strong.  
  
Dawn nodded with a grin, which quickly faded. "Harry; look out!"  
  
Voldermort had decided to take advantage of the group's distraction and had fired a curse at Harry. To give him credit, Harry didn't look around to see what was coming, he just dived to safety.  
  
Dawn walked through the shield (which left Voldermort stuttering again) and over to her boyfriend. "Hi Harry."  
  
Harry stared at her. "You're back." He whispered.  
  
"You can't get rid of me that easily!"  
  
Suddenly Harry's eyes went wide and he dove at Dawn making them both fall to the floor. A bright green light flashed over their heads; the killing curse.  
  
Dawn tried to fire a spell at him but it reflected off and bounced around the shield before flying out the window.  
  
"You can't hurt him with magic;" Harry explained, "he shares the protection in my blood. The spell has to come from me. Stuperfy!"  
  
Voldermort deflected the curse easily. "Impedimenta!"  
  
Harry dodged the curse. Neither was getting very far; it was like they were dancing. One would fire a spell; the other would dodge and then fire their own curse which would be deflected and so on.  
  
"The only time we can win is when we combine our powers." Dawn whispered, echoing her mother's words. She knew instinctively what to do. "Harry; please trust me."  
  
Thirty seconds later, Harry felt energy pouring into him. He looked back to Dawn who was standing just in side the shield with her eyes fixed on him, muttering something.  
  
He saw her mutter 'trust me' so he did; didn't need to think twice about it. He and Voldermort continued swapping curses for a bit longer ("Impedimenta!" "Stuperfy!" "Expellidemus!" "Perificus totalus!"), until Harry felt energy build up inside him.  
  
He let the energy enter him until he could take no more, ignoring the noise around him. He raised his wand to channel all the power.  
  
"Intereo iam!" He yelled at the top of his voice.  
  
Harry felt the energy leave him. It travelled down his wand and came out the other end in a pale yellow light. It hit Voldermort directly in the chest and he screamed. He continued screaming as he got shorter and shorter, or so it appeared.  
  
What was really happening was that he was turning into black goo, starting with his feet. When the spell was finished, Voldermort; the most feared wizard of the generation was nothing but a bubbling pile of ooze on the floor.  
  
The shield collapsed and the spectators of that rather magnificent finale rushed forward. Harry dashed over to Dawn, as did the others.  
  
"Dawn; are you ok?" He asked urgently.  
  
"I'm great!" She said dreamily before passing out...again.  
  
Buffy grabbed Dawn's wrist and anxiously searched for a pulse. She sighed in relief and turned back to Harry.  
  
"She just passed out, coming back to life and doing that energy transfer must've taken a lot out of her. What about you, are you-"Buffy started, but she was interrupted by a loud rumble.  
  
"What was that?" Harry asked unnecessarily; as he could already see that the pile of crap that was Voldermort was bubbling more violently and it was causing the castle to shake.  
  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
  
Meanwhile; Willow was battling against her alter (and darker) ego. Willow was the most skilful, just; but Dark Willow was willing to play dirty and use dark magix so they were pretty evenly matched.  
  
Neither had spoken since they started fighting; they were both to powerful to need words and the only sounds Tara could hear from where she was standing were thuds as one of the witches was thrown into something or a yell of pain.  
  
She winced as Dark Willow threw her hands forward and blue lightening bolts flew out sending Willow flying back with a cry. But Willow wasn't out for good. She retaliated with some lightening of her own, but hers was a mint green.  
  
The spells stopped as the Willow's got to their feet but they were at it again soon. Willow sent a huge gust of wind to her counterpart, but it was deflected off towards a tree in the distance. Dark Willow threw a blood red beam at Willow.  
  
"Ahhh!" Willow didn't get her shield up quickly enough and the light rattled her bones. She mentally begged the Goddesses for their help as she pushed a mini ball of sunshine at Dark Willow.  
  
The golden ball hit Dark Willow in the stomach and sent her crashing into a tree trunk, which promptly collapsed on her.  
  
Willow advanced on her fallen doppelganger. She looked into the eyes that were so like her own but blacker and she couldn't bear to kill the figure that, even if she didn't like it, would always be a part of her. But she had to, or they would be stuck here for ever. Setting her mouth in a resolved line she raised her hands.  
  
"Vintunda!" A shimmering green smoke came out of Willow's fingertips and wrapped around Dark Willow, binding her arms to her sides. Once it was still, the smoke turned pearly white and started to be absorbed into Dark Willow.  
  
Dark Willow realised what was happening. "No! No, stop it! Stop it! I won't give in; I won't!"  
  
But even as she spoke her hair was getting lighter and the veins on her skin were receding.  
  
Soon there was no Dark Willow, just two regular Willow's staring at each other in wonder.  
  
"What did you do?" Tara asked in awe from the sidelines.  
  
"A combination of the spell Giles used to stop us before and the essence of magic. I gave her back her humanity." Willow replied smiling at her double.  
  
Tara nodded. "I know you could do it. Now you are one." As she spoke, the previously Dark Willow walked slowly over to her partner and carried on walking. She walked right into Willow and continued to go through her...but she didn't come out the other side. Now there was only one Willow.  
  
"You are more powerful now," Tara continued; "you are too powerful to be human, it would over load your system."  
  
Tara walked over and placed a hand on Willow's forehead. "Cordelia could tell you more about this if she was still around; you're more powerful than the oracles, than the champions; Willow; you're a higher being."  
  
"A what?" Willow exclaimed. "No, I can't be. Higher beings are all woooo!" She said waving her hands in front of her to demonstrate. "They're like junior P.T.B!"  
  
Tara smiled. "You have to go back now, baby. This doesn't mean anything has to be different. You'll get visions, but they won't hurt you, I won't let them hurt you ever. And you can stay on your plane of existence." Tara placed a light kiss on her lips. "See you in our dreams." She said before fading into blackness.  
  
Willow sat bolt upright, back in the forest to see two cross bows pointed at her face.  
  
"Are you evil?" Vi asked, not dropping the crossbows.  
  
"Do I look evil?" They didn't budge. Willow rolled her eyes. "No; I'm not evil. If I were evil you'd be dead by now."  
  
"That's convincing, what with the death treats an' all." Rona said, still not dropping her crossbow.  
  
"That wasn't a death threat!"  
  
"I know how to settle this!" Vi proclaimed. "If you're not evil, then who is the president?"  
  
"George Bush, but that doesn't prove- never mind." Willow stopped when she saw they had dropped their crossbows.  
  
There was a large rumble. "What was that?"  
  
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[A/N: A bit after the last cavern scene]  
  
Down in the caverns, things were going well. The tide had turned in their favour a while ago and since then there was nothing stopping them. They were currently on one demon for five slayers, and the numbers were still going down.  
  
The wizards, except the order members, had already left via the portal taking all the death eaters with them and the Hogwarts students had soon followed, most of then having killed nothing throughout the battle. The action had mainly kept inside the caves with fifty or so demons trying to escape towards the end.  
  
Wesley and Gunn stood up from where they had been talking with Angel and Faith.  
  
Wesley yelled out to everyone fighting (there were now about a hundred slayers standing about uselessly plus the odds had gone up to one demon per eight slayers) having had his voice magnified with a sonerus charm. "Hey! We want everyone who's injured to follow Gunn out now!"  
  
That got rid of most of the girls standing around the edge, plus a few more. Angel, Faith and Wes had another heated discussion.  
  
"Wes, take the second line back." Angel urged. "There are too many fighters here and they're injuring each other."  
  
"What if something else happens?" Came the reply.  
  
"He's got a point Angel."  
  
"Keep them near the portal and if we need them back one of Xander's lot will tell you."  
  
Wes nodded and ten minutes later only the uninjured first line remained. Faith and Angel stood on the sidelines, ready to jump in if anybody needed it, but now the less experienced members of the army were gone and the hundred or so slayers left actually had room to move the numbers were rapidly depleting.  
  
There was a loud rumble that echoed around the tall caves.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Faith yelled to Angel.  
  
"I don't know; but I don't like it." He replied, looking around.  
  
The ground began to shake quite gently at first but it got more and more violent. Rocks and stone started to fall from the ceiling showering the girls with rubble.  
  
"Everyone out!" Faith bellowed, but they didn't need to be told.  
  
Most of the girls were heading towards the tunnel exit as it was the quickest way out. Some of them dashed through the house, avoiding falling rubble and ignoring the cries of the portraits, but Faith stopped them.  
  
"No! It'll cave in any minute!"  
  
There was still a massive bundle at the tunnel exit and the debris was starting to fall more quickly and in bigger chunks. There was a loud crash followed by screams as the house fell in. Thank God no-one was in there anymore.  
  
Faith and Angel stood at the end, making sure everyone got out ok before diving to safety themselves and not a moment too soon. Faith and Angel had just reached Xander when there was a massive roar and the cavern collapsed in on itself.  
  
Faith watched wide eyed as the shaking began to stop.  
  
"Faith!"  
  
She looked around to see Xander calling her name and waving franticly. He suddenly rushed forward and barrelled into her sending them both rolling to the floor. He rolled the two of them over a couple of times before Faith could get her act together.  
  
"What the hell was that-"She was silenced by a crash as a large tree smashed down, falling where she had been standing moments before. She threw her arms around Xander's neck.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered. She released Xander from her hold and looked around. "Where's B?"  
  
Everyone looked around panicked. The house they were supposed to be fighting in was rubble. Sure, they were all out ok, but what about Dawn, Harry, Buffy, Spike and Giles?  
  
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Cliffie- the last of the story! The reason that I finished there is that I'm still deciding if I should kill them off! It will either be way to sad or a big kaboom for the 'grade finale'  
  
Battle chapters are all done, thank God! The magical ones especially are not fun to write. **One more chapter** which I'll put out in about a week; please review!!! 


	25. Scars

**Thanks to all the reviewers:**  
  
**TTrunks:** I'm considering writing a sequel, it depends how much interest I get in it. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Fallen Star 2:** I'm really glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like the next one. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Charmed Chick:** The George Bush thing was just the slayers being clueless, as usual! I'm glad you liked the battle scenes because ethey're hard for me to write. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Susan:** I'm glad you liked the chapter, when I started writing this I still wasn't sure if I was going to let them live, so you'll have to wait and see. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Blondi Gurl:** I hated choosing who to kill off, but someone had to die. Hope you like the next chapter; thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Nixi Nox:** I'm glad I have you interested! Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Bunny Kat:** I never lied, I just led people on, he he he! I'm both a Spuffy and a Angel-Buffy fan, for me it depends on the story. But this story doesn't focus on Buffy so it wasn't really important, if I do a sequel then maybe... Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Matt:** Thanks for beta-ing; you've already seen this, but I hope you like the changes I made.  
  
**Janine:** You read the whole story? In one fail swoop? Wow; I'm glad you did and I hope you like the next chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Kev:** As far as I know, higher beings can interfere with the things in their dimension...or that's the way I'm keeping it, but IF I do a sequel it would probably be explained more. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Sterling-Ag:** Thanks for reading and reviewing my story. I know that especially at the beginning my writing was of quite a poor standard, but I always value constructive criticism.  
  
**Lightdemondarkangel:** Lots of people have said that they're not Kennedy fans, I don't like her either. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Vld:** I never said that she'd stat dead; just that she was defiantly dead and there would be no resurrection spell- I was very careful with my wording ;-). Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
**Flit**: Thanks for pointing that out, I can't believe that no-one has before. I've changed it for this chapter and I'll go back and change the rest when I go back to 'revamp' them. Thanks for reading and reviewing.  
  
This chapter is dedicated to all the reviewers from day one, especially Matt. He has not only read this story from very near the beginning and beta- ed the last few chapters, but he has always had something good to say about a chapter that I was stuck on. Thanks Matt, you've been great!  
  
**A/N:** OK; I still haven't decided who's gonna live, but it's been three days so I'm just gonna see where the mood takes me. Also there's a time overlap from the last chapter. I don't know who the poem is by, but it's not me.  
  
**CHAPTER 25- SCARS**  
  
"What was that?" Harry asked unnecessarily; as he could already see that the pile of crap that was once Lord Voldemort was bubbling more violently and it was causing the castle to shake.  
  
The narrow tower they were standing in seemed to sway in the light breeze. The lead plates started to fall off the roof, crashing onto the ground. A large chunk of the room's ceiling fell to the floor narrowly missing Spike and Giles.  
  
"Time to go, pet." Spike scooped the still unconscious Dawn into his arms and made towards the stairs. "Come on; move!"  
  
Spike ducked under the low archway and down the spiral staircase, closely followed by Harry, Buffy and Giles. Spike stopped when he got to the room at the bottom of the stairs. The room was almost completely caved in. Spike took a deep breath and shifted Dawn no his shoulder. He ran across the room, leather jacket billowing out behind him.  
  
Buffy followed dragging Harry with her and Giles was close behind. They continued running, jumping over the bodies of the killed death eaters and the debris as they went. They got through the tunnel into the first room that they were trapped in without too many problems as the tunnel seemed to be firmly supported.  
  
It was when they got into the first room that there was a struggle. Surprisingly, the centre of the room was fairly in tact, but the corner where the entrance was had completely caved in. The only way out, was through that portrait, if they had managed to open it.  
  
"What do we do now?" Harry asked, seeing their escape route blocked off.  
  
Buffy looked to Giles. "I'm open to suggestions!" She shouted over the rumbling that had suddenly got louder.  
  
"The window?" Giles suggested.  
  
"We tried that earlier!" Spike yelled.  
  
"Not with magic; Harry must still have some of Dawn's key power inside him, he could try to break it with- Ahh!"  
  
Giles was struck on the head with a piece of falling stone and knocked unconscious.  
  
"Boy; this takes me back!" Buffy quipped, heaving her former watcher onto her shoulders fireman-style. "Harry, can you do it?"  
  
He didn't reply. Harry held out his wand, blue light already streaming from it. At first it just bounced off the glass harmlessly. Harry searched deep inside himself, trying to find the extra power.  
  
The glass started to smoke. Then, without any warning, it shattered sending shards of glass flying outwards.  
  
Buffy looked down. "We're two floors up." She told Spike. "If I get Giles down, can you take the kids?"  
  
Spike nodded and Buffy leapt out the window, landing on her feet like she always did. She had barely got her feet on the ground before she started running clear of the building.  
  
Up in the Manor, things were collapsing even more quickly. Spike steadied Dawn on his shoulder and held Harry firmly to him. He didn't land as gracefully as Buffy, and lost his grip on Harry when he rolled to stand up. Spike had cut himself on a piece of glass that had once been part of the window they had just jumped through, but he was too tired and concentrating to hard on keeping going to pay much attention to the gash.  
  
Spike wearily yanked Harry to his feet just as Buffy came running back.  
  
"I dumped Giles in the woodland. Are you all ok?"  
  
"I think I twisted my ankle and Spike cut himself, but a part from that..." Harry replied.  
  
Buffy nodded. "We have to get out of here!"  
  
She slung her arm around Harry's waist and he put his around her shoulder so that Buffy acted as a crutch for him.  
  
They set off at a run towards the woodland where Giles was. They had barely run five metres before they heard a massive roar as Malfoy Manor collapsed, burying the three people who lived there (Draco, Lucius and Narcissa) under layers of rubble.  
  
Spike, Buffy, and the two seventeen year olds they were helping, ran as fast as they could until they could semi-safely duck to the ground to avoid the flying debris. Buffy and Harry dove to the ground and covered their heads with their hands to try and protect themselves from the stone. Spike threw Dawn to the ground and sheltered her with his body. He cried out in pain as his tired body was pelted with rock and cement.  
  
When all that remained was a cloud of dust, the three warriors that were still conscious got up and found Giles who was beginning to stir.  
  
"What happened?" He asked drowsily.  
  
"You got knocked out." Buffy told him.  
  
"Just like old times." He said dryly. Giles got to his feet. Apart from the initial wavering, he seemed to be ok and capable of walking on his own.  
  
Spike lay Dawn down on the floor. She, like all of them, was very dusty, but seemed to be alright.  
  
Harry stepped onto his ankle gingerly. He sighed in relief. It was just a twist, nothing broken and he could even walk on it.  
  
"Are you ready to head back to the portal?" Buffy asked Giles and Harry watching them test out their injuries.  
  
Both replied with the affirmative, so they set off to the part off the ground where Xander and Willow would be waiting for them with the portal.  
  
As they were approaching, they heard Faith and Angel talking to Xander. "Did they get out?"  
  
"What was the last you heard?"  
  
Xander shrugged helplessly, before his face lit up in a big grin as he saw two familiar blonds appear in the clearing followed by two more figures.  
  
"You're back!"  
  
"You're alive!"  
  
"I never had any doubts!"  
  
The three still there said simultaneously.  
  
Buffy nodded. "Where is everyone?"  
  
"Me and Angel sent the troops back when everything started collapsing. They're waiting for news back at Hogwarts. Whatever you guys did must've used beaucoup de mojo to cause that effect."  
  
"And I told Wills to go back; she was pretty tired." Xander added with a big grin on his face.  
  
"Is she alright?" Buffy asked full of concern for one of her best friends.  
  
"Fine; just tired, what about you guys?"  
  
"We're fine; apart from Harry's arm, Giles' head and Dawn's well, you can see. We should get them back."  
  
Angel held out his arms and took Dawn from Spike. It took a lot to tire a vampire, but a major battle, using his own energy to power a spell that allowed him to walk in sunlight, and carrying his little bit through the bumpy woodlands exhausted Spike. He couldn't wait to get back to the castle and have a nice, warm cup of blood.  
  
[A/N: I had to let them live!]  
  
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The other side of the portal was in chaos, but when the last of the fighters returned there was a deathly hush.  
  
Buffy looked around. The slayers had already begun to heal and most that had made it back weren't that seriously injured. "We won."  
  
A cheer went up in the great hall. For a moment everything was good, but soon reality would hit and the joy would be replaced with tears for those that were lost.  
  
Angel had already vanished with Dawn to the hospital wing where the more serious cases were being tended to by medi-witches under the supervision of Madam Pomfrey. Buffy, Harry, Giles and Spike all hurried there and the latter three were ushered into their own cubicles.  
  
Spike went without much fight. It took a lot of his energy to power the spell that allowed him to walk in the sunlight and that combined with the fight had left him quite exhausted.  
  
Giles too went without a fuss, deciding to see Dawn when she was awake and alert, and he was still a little dazed from the blow to his head.  
  
Harry refused to move from Dawn's bedside despite the begging, demands and bribery of the hospital staff that had been brought in to man the hospital wing. His attention was totally focused on Dawn, so he didn't see Madam Pomfrey sneak up behind him and by the time he realised she was injecting a sedative into him, it was too late and he dropped to the ground.  
  
Madam Pomfrey levitated Harry to the next bed where she let him rest next to a young, unconscious slayer who had been attacked by a member of her team under the imperious curse as many others had during the fight. She left their wounds until they were conscious and she could heal them properly; who knew what damage those muggle fighters could do?  
  
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Meanwhile; Faith and Dumbledore were organizing port keys to the slayers homes. They had decided that it would be easier all round if the slayers went back to their centres now where they were better equipped to deal with everything post battle.  
  
Several sixth and seventh year students plus a group of medi-witches that had been brought in to deal with the injuries of the war were dashing about, healing the slayers and wizards.  
  
Angel returned from the hospital wing and Wes and Gunn were immediately by his side.  
  
"Are they alright?" Wes asked.  
  
Angel nodded. He looked around and saw the hall was less crowded than before. "What kind of numbers did we lose?"  
  
"Only twenty-seven wizards at last count." Gunn answered. "None of them were students and only two were order members; Bill Weasly and Alastor Moody. Also, Faith said she killed that Malfoy kid 'cause he betrayed us again."  
  
Angel nodded. The names didn't really mean much to him, but his heart went out to the families. "And the slayers?"  
  
"Fifty-nine." Wes stated. "Two who were in the fight with the First; thirteen from the Asian hellmouth; twenty one from Cleveland; nine from Australia and fourteen from places in Europe."  
  
Angel nodded again. That wasn't too bad on the grand scale of things.  
  
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Professor Dumbledore crossed the great hall to where Professor McGonagall was tending to one of the students that had been slightly injured in the fight.  
  
"There." She murmured. "You'll have a bit of a scar, but it'll fade in time."  
  
The seventh year girl jumped off the counter and ran off to find her friends. Professor Dumbledore decided to make his presence known.  
  
"Minerva? Everyone from Hogwarts has been accounted for."  
  
"Oh Thanks Merlin!" McGonagall exclaimed.  
  
"Indeed. I understand that Miss Lovegood was the only person seriously harmed?"  
  
McGonagall nodded. "That's right. There were also a couple of flesh wounds, but they've been healed...there's still a scar though, there always will be."  
  
"It is not that type of scarring I am worried about." Dumbledore said mysteriously. "All of these children have seen more death and violence today then I would have hoped them to see in all their lives. That is going to have some kind of effect on them whether they realise it or not."  
  
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The witch slayers had gathered together. They hadn't been told of the death toll, but activity was bustling in the hall so it couldn't have been that high. Flick was running her finger along a long white scar down her arm that one of the curses had left when she heard her friends approaching.  
  
"Are you all ok?" Flick asked adopting the roll of leader as she had done before.  
  
"Yes; did you hear about Dawn?" Jade asked.  
  
Flick shook her head and frowned, she noticed that the others were doing the same. "Is she alright?"  
  
Jaden nodded. "Yeah; but Angel says she'll be unconscious for a while. We should visit her when she's up. Oh, and Harry's alright too. Merlin knows how they managed that one."  
  
"How are you doing?" Flick asked again. "I mean, this was a major battle, it can really mess with your head. I remember the first time I was confronted with my mortality with the First." She shuddered. "Not a great feeling."  
  
"It doesn't feel as bad as it did with the fight at the dance. We were prepared for what was happening and we won." Ginny said. A smile slid across her face. "Oh Merlin! We won! We WON!"  
  
Skye looked up also grinning as if the thought had finally occurred to her. "It's OVER! WE DID IT!!"  
  
The four girls suddenly started hugging each other, oblivious to the funny looks they were getting.  
  
"What's up with them?" Emily asked of Luna who had the arm with the newly re-grown hand held in a sling.  
  
Luna smiled at the younger girl, looking totally sane for the moment. "They're just glad to be alive."  
  
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Xander stuck his head round the curtain closing off Willow from the rest of the hospital wing. "How's my Willow shaped friend?"  
  
Willow smiled. "She's good; just sleepy. How are the others? No-one will tell me anything."  
  
"Everyone's fine. Harry's sleeping and Dawn's..."  
  
"Is she okay?"  
  
Xander nodded. "She'll be fine. She died, but she came back, we don't really know how. Buffy said she did an energy transfer with Harry or something and it knocked her out. She'll be fine." He repeated as if he were trying to convince himself as well as Willow.  
  
"Good;" Willow yawned, "I couldn't bear it if something happened to someone else I love. But I expect major details tomorrow, mister."  
  
Xander smiled. "You betcha! So what happened with you? Rona said she was worried there for a while."  
  
"I passed out after the spell and had a real-life dream." Xander looked confused so Willow tried to explain. "You know when the first slayer haunted us in our dreams, it was only a dream, but if she killed us then we'd be dead in the real world. In my dream I had to beat Dark Willow to stay alive."  
  
"Does that mean Dark Willow's dead?"  
  
"Yea." Willow said happily. "I'm rid of the dark magix once and for all, and there's something else. Tara was there as a messenger for the PTB. When I won, she told me that I was a higher being."  
  
"Whoa!" Xander exclaimed. "What's that?"  
  
"I don't really know. I think it's a link to the powers. She said that I would get visions; of people we have to help I suppose, and that I'd be more powerful that the champions." Willow frowned.  
  
"Cool! Willow finally found her toy surprise, now I just need some kind of wicked cool super power and we're set!"  
  
Willow frowned some more. "What if I can't control it? What if I go evil again?"  
  
"You won't." Xander said with absolute conviction. "This is good power Wills, not evil and you're stronger now."  
  
Willow's frown vanished. "Thanks Xander; where would I be without you?"  
  
"Oh, probably sunning yourself on a beach in the Caribbean drink lots 'a rum." He joked.  
  
Willow grinned before launching herself at her oldest friend and hugging him tightly.  
  
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Madam Pomfrey left Harry and returned to Dawn. Her sister was still sitting by her side.  
  
"She won't wake up for at least two days." The nurse said. "She's in a coma, but she will recover."  
  
Buffy nodded, not looking away from her sister's face.  
  
"She'll need lots of rest, and so do you."  
  
"I want to stay with her." Buffy protested.  
  
"Would she want you to hurt yourself? You've all been through a lot today and if you won't go willingly, then you're never too big for a sedative." She continued.  
  
Buffy looked up at her. "I want to stay-"  
  
"That's not an option. You will not do either of you any good by staying here. Now, if you're as sensible as I think you are, you will go back to your rooms and will not return until after breakfast tomorrow." Madam Pomfrey looked down sternly, refusing to budge.  
  
Buffy looked her in the eye and nodded. She cast a look over her shoulder at Dawn and left the hospital wing that was now quiet.  
  
Madam Pomfrey slumped down on the edge of Dawn's bed. What a day!  
  
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Faith was sitting by the edge of the lake in the dark. How many humans had they killed that day? Five hundred? A thousand? She had no idea. It all seemed like a blur now. She heard someone approaching her. A small part of her wanted to get up and run away, but the rest was tired of running.  
  
"How you coping?" A male voice asked.  
  
Faith looked around confused. She hadn't expected him. What with the whole trying to kill him thing, Xander had been a bit wary around her. "Fine."  
  
"Yeah right. Talk to me Faith."  
  
"I killed Kennedy."  
  
"What?"  
  
"She was trying to kill me, and I pushed her right into the path of one of those green light thingy's."  
  
Xander sighed in relief. "You couldn't have predicted that, it wasn't you're fault."  
  
"You're just saying that."  
  
"Why would I do that? You should know by now that I would tell you the truth. Does Willow know?"  
  
Faith shook her head. "I can't tell her. I can't. That Dumble- guy said he was going to tell the friends and relatives about the deaths tomorrow."  
  
"She won't blame you." Xander assured her. "Things like this happen. The first vampire I slayed was once my best friend. His name was Jesse and I killed him. The guilt is overwhelming; even if you know deep down that it wasn't your fault." They sat by the dark lake in silence for a bit. The moon was shining brightly and the stars were twinkling so the duo could still see fairly clearly.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Faith blurted. Xander looked amused. "Is there a reason I shouldn't be here?"  
  
Faith felt the old defence mechanisms falling into place. "You know what I'm capable of;" she stood up stalked around him predatorily, "you should know better than to come and find me after a fight."  
  
Xander still looked amused and he didn't even bother to get up to face the 'threat', and that annoyed Faith more than anything. "I could kill you, you know that!"  
  
"You could." Xander admitted, still smiling. "You won't, but you could."  
  
"How do you know that?" Without any warning, Faith leapt at Xander, pushed him to the ground and straddled his waist.  
  
To his credit, Xander didn't even flinch. "Why is this familiar?" He muttered. He shifted slightly. "You've changed, Faith; you wouldn't hurt me, not now."  
  
Faith couldn't help but be pleased by his answer. Gone was the nervous high school boy. Xander Harris was a man, a rather yummy man at that. She loosened her grip slightly and faster than you could blink, Xander tossed her to the side and assumed the position that she he previously held over him.  
  
Xander braced himself to be thrown rather roughly away from the slayer, but instead he felt her hand reach up and gently touch the skin around his eye patch.  
  
"Why do you do this?" Faith asked softly. "Why do you fight? You don't have to, you weren't chosen by the powers; you could just walk away, but you don't."  
  
Xander shrugged. "Do you think I could live in this world knowing what's out there but not doing anything to help?"  
  
Faith looked up at him with her big brown eyes. Xander felt a lurch in his stomach. He scrambled to his feet and held out his hand to Faith. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. They stood there for a moment, neither moving.  
  
"Besides," Xander quipped finally; "you guys need me."  
  
"We do?"  
  
"Yup. I am Super Xander!"  
  
She chuckled. Xander swung his arm around her shoulders and they set off back towards the castle.  
  
Faith leaned into his side. She felt safe there, like he would protect her and he wouldn't let anyone hurt her. She noticed his strong grip around her shoulders and cast a quick glance up at his face. He looked like he hadn't shaved for a few days and had that ruggedly handsome look going... Did she just think Xander Harris was attractive?  
  
Xander's arm seemed to have a mind of its own. This was Faith! She tried to kill him and he was pulling her close like he would Buffy or Willow. He felt her lean closer to him and he tightened his grip around her shoulder. OK; now this was closer than he had held anyone, well, anyone since Anya.  
  
He looked down at the brunette by his side. She'd grown up a lot, both in her attitude and her appearance. Her features were softer now and her hair framed her face and made her look a lot less threatening. The rest of her wasn't half bad either. His eye raked over her body appreciatively.  
  
"Mr Harris, are you checking me out?"  
  
'Dammit.' He thought. "And what if I was?"  
  
Faith was surprised by Xander's reaction; he didn't even blush. "Like what you see?" She purred seductively.  
  
Xander felt an uncomfortable tightness in the crotch of his jeans. Faith reached up and kissed him. After a moment Xander pulled back.  
  
"Sorry Faith; I don't want to be another notch on your bedpost." Not again. He added mentally. Faith looked as if he'd slapped her round the face.  
  
"The last 'notch on my bedpost' was Robyn." She said coldly before stalking off towards the castle.  
  
"Faith, wait!" Xander caught up with her and held her shoulders so that she was facing him. "I'm sorry. Forgive me, please?" He gave her his best puppy dog eyes.  
  
Faith felt like she was melting. She'd seen a lot of puppy eyes in her time, but none as good as Xander's. How could she resist?  
  
"I'll make it up to you." He wheedled.  
  
Xander saw a slight smile grace her lips. "Alright then." She said begrudgingly.  
  
Xander gave a little whoop and lifted the slayer in his arms. He swung her round in a circle and watched her laugh.  
  
Even after he put her down he still kept hold. He brushed a stray hair out of her face and leaned down and let his lips brush hers.  
  
It would be useless to say she wasn't attracted to him. So she responded willingly to the kiss. For the first time in years, Faith didn't use a guy. She wanted something in her life to work for once and although she'd never really seen Xander in that way before, he was a nice enough guy and she was going to do it right... this time.  
  
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A little bird was singing outside Buffy, Willow and Faith's bedroom. Faith groaned and ducked under the covers but the shrill cry of the bird pierced through the thick duvet.  
  
She moaned and picked up her crossbow from where it still lay next to her bed. The little birdie sung no more.  
  
"What happened to the bird?" Willow asked amused. She had been up for a while and was just coming back from the bathroom.  
  
"I slayed it." Faith commented. "It had to be stopped."  
  
"You slayed it? But it was just a little bird?" Buffy said from where she was sitting in her bed.  
  
"Oh, um no, of course not! It, umm, was an accident!" Faith tried, attempting to look innocent. She dropped the crossbow to the floor, right onto her foot. "OW!!"  
  
Willow smirked. She kicked the crossbow across the room. "I think I'll move this before you have anymore accidents."  
  
"Hey!" Faith exclaimed has her precious, and deadly, weapon was carelessly kicked along the cold floor.  
  
"I'm doing you a favour!"  
  
Faith grumbled and got fully out of bed, wincing as the cold air whipped around her. "Bathroom." She said as she stumbled into the en suite.  
  
Buffy and Willow exchanged grins. Faith was not a morning person.  
  
"How are my favourite girls?" Xander asked bounding into their room.  
  
"Xander! Don't you knock?" Buffy said, but there was a big grin on her face.  
  
"How d' ya feel? Glad it's over?" He plopped down on the slayers bed and she nodded vigorously.  
  
A blurry eyes Faith re-entered the room. She yawned widely, not looking where she was going. So, with all the grace of a slayer, she tripped over the crossbow in the middle of the room.  
  
Buffy laughed. "Let me get this straight; you moved the crossbow so she wouldn't have another accident?" Willow nodded sheepishly. "Right; ok!"  
  
"Wills;" Faith said as she started to get up; "Don't do me anymore favours, please! You'll just end up killing me!"  
  
The mood in the room immediately sobered. Faith sat down next to Xander on Buffy's bed and he put his arm around her. Faith immediately leant against him, resting her head on his shoulder.  
  
Buffy thought of her little sister still comatose in the hospital wing. "I wonder how she's doing."  
  
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Buffy returned from seeing Dawn to find Willow sitting on her bed, her face full of emotion.  
  
"What's wrong?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Kennedy." Willow whispered. "She was killed."  
  
"Oh Will, I'm so sorry."  
  
Willow shook her head absently. "It's weird. We broke up and it's really confusing. I don't love her, I never did, but it hurts, you know?"  
  
Buffy nodded and Willow shook herself. When she looked back at Buffy, she seemed more herself. She hadn't spoken to Kennedy since they had broken up and Willow couldn't help but feel guilty at the lack of pain she felt over her former lover's death.  
  
They sat there for a while, just thinking about all the people they had seen die over the years until Buffy finally broke the silence. "Was there anyone else?"  
  
"Yes, but no-one we know. One other girl from the First-fight, Jenny or something, but the rest we didn't know."  
  
Buffy shrugged uncomfortably. "Do you think that, maybe we should have had more to do with them? We do send them into battles quite a lot, but we don't know their strengths or names or anything."  
  
Willow nodded. "I know what you mean; it's like we tell them what to do and we know they're there, but we don't really think about them until their dead."  
  
Buffy gasped in horror. "We're like the old watcher council!"  
  
"No." Willow said firmly. "Well, not yet. Maybe we could go round the slayer centres when this is over; she how everyone's doing."  
  
Buffy nodded enthusiastically. "I don't want to end up like those stuffy, tweed wearing, murdering, stupid, dull, English- what was my point, again?"  
  
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"Dead? Bill's dead?" Ginny gasped.  
  
"I'm very sorry, Ginny, Ron." Dumbledore said. "There was a threat to another order member, Patricia Rowland, and he saved her...but it cost him his life."  
  
Ron hadn't said anything so far, but a small smile slid across his face. "That's just like him. He would've wanted to go like that."  
  
Dumbledore smiled in understanding. "He died a hero."  
  
Ron nodded. "I'd like to go now." He said after a moment.  
  
Dumbledore nodded and he left, leaving Ginny alone with the headmaster. "Miss Weasly; would you like to go home?"  
  
Ginny nodded, tears sliding down her cheeks.  
  
"I understand that your brother would prefer to stay here with his friends at this time, do you understand?"  
  
Ginny nodded again and Dumbledore set about her travel arrangements.  
  
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Hermione pulled Ron into a hug when he returned to the common room. "I heard about Bill, are you ok?"  
  
Ron nodded. "I'm fine."  
  
Hermione gave him a look. "You can talk to me Ron, I want you too."  
  
"I'm as good as you'd expect me to be." He sighed. "I told Dumbledore I'd rather stay here than go home. At home everything would be too intense; Mum as Charlie, Percy and the twins to look after her and I really think it would be better for me to stay here. Less crowded."  
  
"If you wanted to go home there would always be room for you."  
  
"I know; but I'd rather stay here...he died to save some girl, I don't even know her." Ron said quietly. There was a short silence. Hermione had never had anyone that close to her die, and didn't really know what to say.  
  
"It's ok to cry, to let it all out." Hermione said soothingly.  
  
Ron nodded wordlessly. She pulled him closer to him and soon felt wet tears against her neck.  
  
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Harry awoke the next morning to find himself in a strange bed looking up at a very white ceiling. Then it all came rushing back.  
  
He swung his legs out of bed and saw Dawn lying on the bed next to him. He went over to her. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but there was still a frown on her lips. He reached out and gently stroked her hair out of her face.  
  
"She won't be conscious for a while yet." Madam Pomfrey said from behind him. "You should be in bed."  
  
Harry ignored her completely, not even bothering to turn around. Her top had ridden up slightly and he could see a new scar on her stomach. The trip to heaven may have healed the wound, but the mark would never go away. They all would have marks and scars, not all of then visible; the pain would fade, but it would never go away.  
  
"Mr Potter! I really must insist you get some rest!" Madam Pomfrey ordered. "You won't do her any good if you too are exhausted."  
  
The school nurse steered the famous Harry Potter to a cubical where his wounds were tended to.  
  
"You need to take good care of your arm, Harry. It won't be up to scratch for at least a week, and that's only if you rest it completely."  
  
Harry wasn't taking the slightest bit of notice. Madam Pomfrey saw where he was looking. "She'll be fine Harry." She said kindly. "She just needs rest, for quite a while I'm afraid. She won't be up for anything strenuous until the end of term. Lot's of rest."  
  
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FOUR DAYS LATER  
  
"Flick!" Dawn hobbled over to her friend as fast as she could using her crutches.  
  
"So you've finally got out of the hospital wing then?" Flick said with a grin, happy to see Dawn up and about after all she had been through.  
  
Dawn nodded enthusiastically. "Yea, finally. Where is everyone?"  
  
Flick face clouded over. "They're in the common room. We're having a mini memorial service for everyone who didn't make it."  
  
Dawn nodded again, less enthusiastically. "Mind if I tag along?"  
  
"Not at all."  
  
The memorial service was short and sweet. There were no overly flowery speeches by people who barely knew the person they were talking about, no posh hymns that everyone knew the deceased would have hated.  
  
The common room had a large basket of pure white roses on each side of the fire place and there were several candles, also white, on the mantle place waiting to be lit. Each house had the same set up, even Slytherin; not everyone in that house was a death eater.  
  
The usual red and gold armchairs were replaced with rows of chairs with red cushions and white ribbon twined around them. The chairs were soon filled with students, not just from Gryffindor, Luna, Emily and Jaden were all there as well as a few others who were close friends with Gryffindor's.  
  
When all the movement had stopped, Hermione stood and went to the front.  
  
"I was asked to say something today, about everyone who died. Not just those who died in the final phase of the fight, but everyone who was killed trying to stop V-Voldemort. I heard this poem at my Grandpa's funeral and I thought that it would be good for today:

_Do not stand at my grave and weep;  
  
I am not there. I do not sleep.  
  
I am a thousand winds that blow.  
  
I am the diamond glints on snow.  
  
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.  
  
I am the gentle autumn rain.  
  
When you awaken in the morning's hush  
  
I am the swift uplifting rush  
  
Of quiet birds in circled flight.  
  
I am the soft stars that shine at night.  
  
Do not stand at my grave and weep;  
  
I am not there. I do not sleep."_

Hermione went back to her seat silently and nodded to Harry who left his seat next to Dawn and lit three of the white candles saying: "For Sirius and my Mum and Dad." He put three glass bells over the candles which continued to burn despite the lack of oxygen.  
  
There were little gold plates at the bottom of each bell and when Harry put them over the candles they magically inscribed themselves with the names of the people they were dedicated to.  
  
Ron got up next. "For Bill and Mad Eye." He choked out before sitting back down next to Hermione.  
  
Surprisingly it was Neville who got up next to dedicate a candle to his parents. Although they were not dead, the people who loved him and took care of him died when they went insane.  
  
Soon, the mantle place was full of candles, each burning for someone who had died fighting Voldemort, both wizards and slayers. Dawn had lit a candle for both Robin and Kennedy and a third for 'the slayers who died'.  
  
After everyone had lit the candles that they wanted to, they all sat in silence for a while before getting up and leaving one or two at a time. Soon the only people left were Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dawn, Flick, Jaden, Skye, Luna and Emily.  
  
They too got up and sat in the bean bags and comfy chairs on the other side of the common room.  
  
Harry slung his good arm around Dawn's shoulders. "That wasn't so bad." He said softly.  
  
Ron shook his head. "No; it wasn't."  
  
"It's a shame we couldn't have a wake or something." Flick commented.  
  
"Why can't we?" Neville asked.  
  
"Wait here!" Harry exclaimed. He went upstairs to his room and quickly returned with a large bag of something. He set the bag down with a loud clink. "I'd forgotten all about these. I got them on the last Hogsmede visit ages ago." He said handing each person sitting then a bottle of butter beer.  
  
The group spent the next hour exchanging tales about anyone they knew who had died.  
  
"...And then Kennedy pretended to be sick to get out of the hokey-pokey trip and so she could spend some quality time alone with Willow."  
  
"Quality time..? Wait; Kennedy's gay?"  
  
"Yes, well, she was." Dawn sighed and silence overtook them. "I propose a toast: to those we have lost; they're at peace now."  
  
"To those we have lost." The rest chorused.  
  
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FOUR MORE DAYS LATER  
  
"Aww come on guys; it'll be fun!" Dawn whined, playing with her crutches. She was still supposed to be taking it easy, but that wasn't working out so well.  
  
"I don't know Dawn; you're supposed to be resting. You know how much trouble we got into when we played quiditch yesterday." Harry reminded her.  
  
"But I'm not tired; I'm bored!" Dawn seemed more like a seven year old than a seventeen year old. "It's been over a week! I feel fine! We can double date, it'll be fun!"  
  
"Bloody hell," Ron mumbled. He had decided to stay at Hogwarts following his brother's death and was handling it quite well. He had grieved and cried, but had had Hermione to lean on the whole time which was a big help. "Just give into her Harry; we all know you will eventually. Besides Hogsmede only comes a couple of times a term and I don't want to miss it."  
  
"Fine! But don't blame me if you collapse again!"  
  
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Dawn gave him a kiss.  
  
In Hogsmede it was like a big party. Everyone was still celebrating the fall of Voldemort in spectacular style and wherever they went, shops gave them freebies as a 'thank you'.  
  
"Ohmigod thanks!" Dawn exclaimed upon being given a humongous bag of sweets from Honeydukes.  
  
Harry looked at her worried; it had only been six days since the battle and Dawn should be taking it easy not jumping about like a thing possessed! Her sugar rush could only last so long, and when it wore off there would be hell to pay.  
  
As if on cue, Dawn swayed violently, dropping the crutches that held her up. Harry leapt forward and caught her before she hit the ground. Pain immediately shot up his arm, but he kept hold.  
  
"And what, young lady, do you think you are doing?" Buffy's very stern voice loomed over them.  
  
"Oh crap;" Dawn muttered, still in Harry's arms; "busted."  
  
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"Bed-rest." Buffy said, looking down at her sternly. "Have you any idea what that means? Hmm... Here's an idea... it doesn't mean trying to play quiditch or going to parties."  
  
"It doesn't mean shopping literally until you drop." Xander added, staring down at her with the same hard expression.  
  
Dawn dropped her shoulders but refused to apologize. "You guys are over- reacting. Besides, I'm sick of lying down so much." She fell back onto her bed and looked up at all of her friends who were crowded into her dorm.  
  
Dawn rolled her eyes, "Guys, please, I'm okay. Stop babying me. All I want to do right now is go to the Common Room and get a drink, okay? That's it. I promise I won't do anything. I'll just sit at a table and talk quietly with my housemates."  
  
Somewhat doubtfully Harry said, "You promise?"  
  
"I do if you promise to lay off on your arm." Dawn shot back. Harry gave her a sour look. "Well, do we have a deal?"  
  
"Come on, Harry, it's only fair." Ron said with a grin. The others joined in.  
  
Finally he nodded. "Okay, fine but you gotta promise too, Dawn."  
  
Dawn nodded, "Okay, I'll be good."  
  
The others sighed, obviously relived. Then they turned and started to leave. Harry shot her a dirty look and stayed back and helped her to her feet. He handed her the crutches and then whispered: "Remember, you promised."  
  
She hit him lightly on the shoulder, "I know." She moved out into the hall and then shot back over her shoulder, "But all I said was that I'd be good for today."  
  
**THE END**  
  
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I can't believe it's over! I started this five months ago, I can't see how people can keep up with the same story for over a year. But anyway; _do you want a sequel?  
_  
If I get enough interest, then I will write one, but not for at least a month, I already have another project on the go (A Buffy non-crossover)! I would appreciate any plot ideas for if I decide to write one as well. If those who would be interested in a sequel would like to leave their email, then I would be happy to contact you and tell you what is happening.  
  
For the last time; **please review**!  
  
**_Kiara xxx_**


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